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m: AP 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ROUTE OF ARNOLD'S CAMPAIGN. 
 
ACCOUNT 
 
 mM^ (SJampaigtt ^gainst (^wht. 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 Hardships and Sufferings of that Band of Heroes 
 
 TBA VERSED THE WILDERNESS OF MAINE 
 
 CAMBRIDGE TO THE ST. LAWRENCE, 
 
 AUTUMN OF 1775. 
 
 By JOHN JOSEPH HENRY, 
 
 I) 
 
 One of the Survivors. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 JOEL MUNSELL. 
 
 1877. 
 
E 
 
 53 5 
 
 '//Yi 
 
 p1 
 

 
 MEMOIR 
 
 or 
 
 JOHN JOSEPH HENRY, 
 
 BY HIS GRANDSON. 
 
 John Joseph Henry, the author of the Campaign against (Quebec, was 
 born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of November A.D. 1758. 
 His ancestors came to Pennsylvania with the first great vi^ave of Scotch- 
 Irish immigration. His father, William Henry, in a brief memoir of him- 
 self, written in the German tongue a few weeks before his death, says : 
 
 "I was born May 19th, 1729. My grandparents on my father's side 
 came from Scotland, and on my mother's side were descendants of French 
 refugees. My parents on both sides came from Ireland to Pennsylvania 
 and were married in this country. My father was a Presbyterian and my 
 mother a member of the Church of England, but as there was then no 
 Anglican church in Pennsylvania the whole family felt drawn to join the 
 Presbyterians."' 
 
 Robert Henry, the Scottish grandfather, with his wife Mary and their 
 three sons John, Robert and James, arrived in the Delaware in 1722. He 
 settled in the pleasant valley of Doe Run in the wide county of Chester 
 and there, in 1735, he and his wife ended their pilgrimages on the same 
 day and were buried together at the historic Octorara Meeting House. 
 
 Of the three sons James died early leaving a single child who did not 
 survive infancy, and Robert, following the current of Scotch-Irish emigra- 
 tion went into the valley of Virginia where he left many sons and daughters, 
 and they many descendants. 
 
 John Henry married the daughter of Hugh De Vinney, one of the Hu- 
 guenots of the Pequea valley. He remained upon and added to the lands 
 
 1 This statement is not strictly accurate. There was more than one Anglican church 
 in the vicinity of Philadelphia previously to 1712. 
 
iv. Memoir. 
 
 of his father, but dying in middle life his family, consisting of five sons and 
 several daughters, was in the language of the memoir "entirely scattered." 
 
 William Henry, the eldest of the sons, then in his fifteenth year, was 
 sent to Lancaster to learn the trade of gunsmith with Matthew Roeser. 
 
 Lancaster county had been set off from the vast county of Chester in 
 1729 and itself included "all and singular the lands within the province of 
 Pennsylvania lying to the northward of Octorara creek and to the westward 
 of a line of marked trees running from the north branch of Octorara creek 
 northeasterly to the river Schuylkill." Lancaster, the county seat, was laid 
 out by James Hamilton, afterwards governor of Pennsylvania, in 1728, 
 and was in 1745 an active and prosperous town with about two thousand 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Emigrants in large numbers and in some cases in organized bodies, from 
 Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and Switzerland, had poured into the 
 fertile wilderness of southern Pennsylvania. Flying for the most part from 
 oppressive land laws or from religious persecution they brought with them 
 their clergy, their school masters and their books and that intensity of faith 
 and purpose which had sent them forth to found new homes across the sea. 
 Lancaster, situated in the midst of a great valley of unsurpassed fertility 
 soon became not only the seat of an active commerce and manufacture 
 connected with the Indian trade but the home of many men well culti- 
 vated in the learning of the day, especially in its theological departments. 
 
 William Henry possessed in full measure the perfervid imagination of his 
 race, and at early age turned his thoughts upon those great religious ques- 
 tions which are so seldom solved by ratiocination. He tells the story of 
 his spiritual experiences at length in his memoir, but it is enough to say 
 that he did not find the peace he sought, till middle life, when in 1763 
 he and his wife joined themselves to the Moravians, then known only as 
 the Church of the United Brethren. 
 
 His work in worldly matters prospered, however, for like many of his 
 race he was prudent in action, though speculative in thought. He became 
 early the head of a large establishment for the manufacture of arms and 
 equipments for the Indian trade. In 1754 he was appointed armorer for 
 the troops collecting in Virginia for Braddock's expedition, and in 1757 
 he was, with apparent reluctance, called again to go to Virginia as " gun 
 contractor for the whole army." 
 
 From this time forward he was much engaged in public affairs, especially 
 in those which related to the Indian tribes. Possessing the confidence both 
 of the whites and the Indians, he was able to render essential service in the 
 
Memoir. v. 
 
 settlement of many of the questions which arose between the races. The 
 Delaware hero, Koquethagachron or White Eyes, and his successor Gelele- 
 mend or Leader called Killbuck by the whites, were among his friends. 
 
 Between him and the latter the tie of friendship was so strong that in 
 1784, after the Delaware custom, they agreed to exchange names. Gelele- 
 mend, a ftw years later, was baptized by the Moravians as William Henry 
 and his descendants in Fairfield, Canada, still bear the name and claim 
 kinship with the posterity of their ancestor's friend. 
 
 When the disputes between the colonies and the crown grew serious, 
 William Henry, though a magistrate under the proprietary government, 
 gave his support with characteristic ardor to the cause of the patriots. His 
 activity and vigor were conspicuous during the war of the revolution. His 
 factory was busy in the making of arms and he himself as deputy 
 commissary general, exercised freely the almost unlimited authority 
 given him by Washington, in the matter of raising supplies for the 
 army. After the termination of the war he was called to fill a number of 
 posts of honor and responsibility. It will seem strange to us, when the 
 holding of a plurality of offices is deemed an abuse, that at the time of his 
 death in 1786, he was a judge of the court of common pleas, a member 
 of the general congress, and the treasurer of Lancaster county; and what 
 may seem stranger still his wife, Anne Henry, succeeded him in the last 
 office and continued to fill it with entire acceptation for many years and 
 nearly up to the time of her own decease. 
 
 John Joseph Henry grew up in troublous times. In early childhood he 
 and his elder brother William Henry, the younger, were witnesses of the 
 Paxtang massacre. His own recollection was only of the hurrying and 
 shouts of men, the firing of guns and the retreat at a gallop of those who 
 had slain the helpless prisoners. His brother, two years his senior, was 
 able, however, in later years to give a vivid account of the slaughter (Hecke- 
 'we/cier\Narrati've, p. 78). Strenuous efforts were made to bring the murderers 
 to trial by William Henry and others, but the state of feeling on what was 
 then the frontier, was such that no success followed their efforts. Even 
 the detachment of Highlanders quartered in the town at the time would do 
 nothing to stay the carnage or arrest the perpetrators of it. 
 
 Judge Henry was accustomed to say, late in life, that he had watched the 
 careers of all of those lawless men who had murdered the Conestogas, and 
 that the retribution which man denied had been awarded by Providence, 
 for that nearly all of them died violent deaths. Tradition tells that the 
 
vi. Memoir. 
 
 last of them broke his neck by falling from a loaded wagon near his own 
 house. 
 
 As young Henry grew towards manhood the mutterings of the revolution- 
 ary storm were in the air. He drank in the passions of the time with 
 eager spirit and with parental precept and example to justify him, gave up 
 his whole heart to the strife. He had been sent in 1772, with his uncle 
 John Henry, who was a gunsmith and Indian trader, to the remote frontier 
 post of Detroit. Returning the next year on foot with a single guide, who 
 died in the wilderness, he found his way after much suffering to the house 
 of his relative General John Gibson, who dwelt at Logstown on the Ohio. 
 He was kindly received by General Gibson and when restored to health 
 was sent forward by him to his home in Lancaster. 
 
 General Gibson was himself one of the leading men of the frontier. He 
 it was to whom the Mengwe chief, Logan, addressed the speech which Jeffer- 
 son, in his Notes on Virginia, has made immortal. He was a brother 
 of Colonel George Gibson, who was mortally wounded at St. Clair's de- 
 feat. Col. Gibson was the father of the late Hon. John Bannister Gibson, 
 chief justice of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Gibsons were all men of force of character combined with a gay 
 humor. The story is told of Colonel Gibson that a couple of days after 
 the defeat, whilst the army was still in great peril, as he lay in his rough 
 shelter in the forest, his nephew, Lieutenant Slough of Lancaster, who had 
 been slightly wounded in the arm, but had lent his blanket to his uncle, came 
 to demand its return, saying that he had leave to go home to see his father 
 and mother. The dying man turned to him with a smile and said "take 
 it Jake, and go home and honor your father and mother that your days 
 may be long in the land." 
 
 William Henry had designed that his sons William and John Joseph 
 should follow his own avoCation. The former acceded to his father's wishes 
 and was the second in a line of prosperous makers of arms extending to the 
 present day. But when the command was laid on the younger son to 
 enter the factory he so far disobeyed it as to incur the serious displeasure of 
 his father. Not long after the question between them was settled by the 
 outbreak of the war. In 1774 the quarrel between the colonies and Eng- 
 land was probably past cure. Both sides were making ready for the conflict. 
 In southern Pennsylvania the dour frontiersmen might differ as to the 
 murder of Indian prisoners but they were of one mind as to fighting the 
 British. They or their ancestors had fled across the ocean from the tyran- 
 
Memoir. vii. 
 
 nical land and church laws of England and they would resist to the death 
 a new oppression' in America. 
 
 In the spring of 1775 two companies of riflemen were enlisted at the 
 first tap of the drum for the army before Boston — one from the county 
 of Cumberland under Captain William Hendricks, the other from Lancaster 
 county under Captain Matthew Smith. Young Henry, by this time a tall 
 and hardy youth, well skilled in the use of the rifle and the ways of the 
 forest, joined the latter without the knowledge of his father. His good 
 mother, however, whose patriotism may have been a shade less prudent 
 than that of her husband, was made the confidante of his intention and 
 gave her consent to an act which was but the natural corollary of her 
 own teaching. She made with her own hands in secret his rifleman's 
 uniform, if such it could be called, consisting as he himself tells of leggings, 
 moccasins and a deep ash colored hunting shirt. 
 
 When the day of departure came and the company was drawn up for 
 inspection before starting, his father passed along the line but did not recog- 
 nize his own son in the tall rifleman on its right. 
 
 The story of the campaign so well told by himself needs not to be re- 
 hearsed here. It is enough to say that he came home in the fall of 1776, 
 apparently in health but with the seeds of disease deeply planted in his 
 constitution. In a few weeks after this, he tells us, " a slight cold caught 
 while skating on the Susquehannah or hunting the wild turkey among the 
 Kittatinny mountains, put an end to all his visionary schemes of ambition." 
 The scurvy, from which he suffered in the prison at Quebec, attacked with 
 terrible force the knee which had been injured at the assault. The joint 
 became the seat of violent inflammation, disease of the bone followed and 
 when two years afterwards he left his couch it was only to walk with a 
 crutch through life. Some good, however, came out of so much evil. The 
 house of William Henry had long been the resort of the educated men of 
 the Lancaster community and of such strangers as visited the place. Dur- 
 ing the revolution the leading men of the day found quarters there. Franklin, 
 Rittenhouse, Paine and others were among his guests. (^MarshaWs Diary 
 passim.) The Juliana library founded in 1750, so called from Lady Juliana 
 Penn, wife of Thomas Penn and daughter of the Earl of Pomfret, was kept 
 there. Constant access to books with abundant leisure to read them and 
 the society of the foremost men of the time made up for a somewhat de- 
 sultory early training and probably determined his ultimate choice of the 
 law as his profession. 
 
viii. Memoir. 
 
 The memoir of his life by his daughter, the mother of the present writer, 
 tells us all that is known of him till he came to the bar. His preceptor, 
 Colonel Stephen Chambers, whose youngest sister he afterwards married, 
 was an Irishman by birth. He had come to Pennsylvania with his father, 
 mother and sisters in the great Scotch-Irish immigration of 1772 and 1773. 
 The father being a man of property had educated his son at Trinity college, 
 Dublin, intending him for the bar. He had the misfortune 'however, at 
 an early age to kill his antagonist in a duel, whereupon the whole family 
 came to America. He also entered the army and did good service for 
 some years but resigned his commission and came to the bar of Lancaster 
 county in 1780 where he attained a large practice. He was a delegate to 
 the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the federal constitution. He 
 fell in a duel with Dr. Reger in 1789. 
 
 Mr. Henry, after several years of assiduous study, was admitted to practice 
 in 1785. He too was soon largely employed. But the conditions of suc- 
 cess in the law at that time, were very different from those which com- 
 mand it now. Beyond the statutes of the states there were practically 
 no books on the law written or printed in America, no text-books, 
 no digests, no reports. The first volume of Dallas's Reports was pub- 
 lished in 1790, the second in 1798, and the third in 1799. With 
 these exceptions no regular series of reports had been published in 
 America up to the year 1800. The entire vast array of American reports, 
 both state and federal, has come into existence since that day. The lawyers 
 of that time were thrown for aid wholly on English resources, and English 
 law books exclusively composed their modest libraries. It is perhaps a 
 fortunate thing for the jurisprudence of the country that such was the case. 
 Where all sound learning in the law was drawn from one source, it was 
 but natural that the several jurisprudences established on that basis should 
 have a substantial uniformity though the peculiar political institutions of 
 the country might seem to disfavor such a result. Many men of great 
 ability and profound learning were trained in this early school. They 
 sought their knowledge at the very fountain heads of the law and grew 
 strong in the mastery of its principles by tracing them to their foundation. 
 Among these George and James Ross, Duncan, Charles Hall, Yeates, 
 Watts and Charles Smith were among the associates and friends of Judge 
 Henry. 
 
 In 1793 Mr. Henry was appointed by Governor Mifflin, the president of 
 the second judicial district of Pennsylvania. His commission, bearing date 
 
Memoir. ix. 
 
 the i8th day of December, 1793, appoints him "President of the Several 
 Courts of Common Pleas in the Circuit consisting of the Counties of 
 Chester, Lancaster, York and Dauphin," a vast territory whose features were 
 fertile valleys and rugged hills with the hard wood forests every where pre- 
 dominant. 
 
 Of his work as a judge but little remains. It may be said of him, as has 
 been said of his kinsman and youthful friend, the late Chief Justice Gibson, 
 who at one time presided over another Pennsylvanian circuit, that so far as 
 his work in that circuit was concerned " he has left no monument of his 
 labors. Like the fruits of much of the best ability of the state, displayed 
 in the same sphere, they perished on the spot without a record to perpetu- 
 ate their worth." [Essay on the Life and ffritings of John B. Gibson, 
 LL.D., by William A. Porter.) The words of Judge Porter have a sad 
 aptitude to many cases. 
 
 The only case tried by Judge Henry, which is known to have been fully 
 reported, is that of the Commonwealth vs. Hauer, et als., 2 Chandlers Criminal 
 Trials, 353. The case in Chandler is but a feeble abridgment of a remark- 
 able pamphlet printed at Harrisburg in 1798, giving a full account of the 
 trials of the seven persons charged with complicity in the murder. It has 
 been said that " few events ever caused more excitement and alarm amongst 
 the German population than the murder of Francis Shitz in 1797. The 
 trials of the parties implicated in this singular transaction are interesting as 
 exhibiting the low state of public morals at that day in the interior of the 
 state, especially amongst the foreign population, and also as involving some 
 legal points of great importance in criminal law." (Prefatory note to the 
 Report in Chandler.) 
 
 The counsel on both sides were of great ability and the many questions 
 of law and of fact were argued with much learning and fullness. The 
 rulings of Judge Henry throughout the case were briefly and clearly made, 
 and his charge to the jury correctly stated the principles of the law applica- 
 ble to it. 
 
 Two of the prisoners were found guilty of murder in the first degree and 
 expiated their crime upon the gallows. 
 
 The pamphlet report, by an anonymous author, is a model of completeness. 
 It gives a statement of the case, the pleadings, the evidence in full, the 
 motions made at the several stages of the very complex proceedings, the 
 rulings of the court on the points raised, the arguments of the counsel and 
 the charge of the judge. It is a conscientious history by a fully competent 
 
X. Memoir. 
 
 hand of a celebrated case, from the perusal of which a lawyer may derive 
 greater profit than by reading volumes of such reports as slip-shod indolence 
 too often imposes on the profession. 
 
 About the year 1804, the constitution of Judge Henry, so severely tried 
 in youth, began to give way under repeated attacks of the gout, which in a 
 letter written to his brother William in 1807, he speaks of as an inherit- 
 ance from his mother. That it is transmissible by descent many others 
 have grievous reason to testify. 
 
 In succeeding ye. .is the severity of his attacks increased so greatly that 
 he was unable longer to fill the arduous duties of his office. He therefore, 
 in the latter part of the year 1810, tendered his resignation to the governor 
 of the state. Four months later, on the 15th April, 181 1, he rested finally 
 from his labors. His remains lie in the burial ground of the Moravian 
 church at Lancaster. 
 
 Judge Henry was a ma.n of great stature and strength, and of grave and 
 leonine aspect — yet he was of jovial temper and quick and warm sensibilities. 
 His religious faith was cast in the antique mold which would not admit of 
 a doubt and somewhat scorned the doubter. By the testimony of all who 
 knew him he was a brave, just and honorable gentleman. 
 
 The Campaign against Quebec was dictated to his daughter, Anne Mary, 
 the mother of the writer, with the aid of casual notes and memoranda from 
 his bed of sickness in his latest years. The manuscript received no revision 
 at his hands, for he was called away very shortly after its last pages were 
 written. His widow gave it to the press in 18 12, and it was printed with- 
 out even the correction of verbal and typographical errors. 
 
 He left two sons. Dr. Stephen Chambers Henry, late of Detroit, and 
 Dr. Julien Henry of St. Louis, also deceased, and several daughters, one 
 only of whom, Anne Mary, the wife of the late Honorable Thomas Smith, 
 of Delaware county, has left issue. 
 
 A portrait of Judge Henry in the stately dress of a gentleman of the old 
 time, from the hand of his youngest brother, Benjamin West Henry, a 
 pupil of Gilbert Stuart, represents him as a man of massive features, broad 
 shoulders and grave yet kindly expression, and is in full harmony with what 
 is remembered of him. 
 
 Aubrey H. Smith. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 25th, 1877. 
 
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIS DAUGHTER. 
 
 There is an observation trite, true, and universally admitted, that the 
 lives of those who have not embraced a wide sphere of action, are un- 
 interesting and perfectly devoid of any incitements to attention. Biogra- 
 phies of warriors and statesmen are perused with avidity ; but it is not 
 merely their own history, but that of the times in which they lived, at 
 least partially so. But descending to the quieter walks of life, when we 
 trace the history of a good and unfortunate man, through all the varied 
 evolutions that peculiarly mark his fate, and prevent him from being en- 
 rolled in the list of those beings who have found the path divested of thorns, 
 it is, to some, still interesting} and although the incidents are not of a 
 nature to excite wonder or astonishment, they may still possess the power 
 to call forth the sympathy of minds of feeling — minds that have been 
 taught to feel another's woe. 
 
 John Joseph Henry, the author of the following pages, was born Novem- 
 ber 4th, 1758, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His father, William Henry, 
 was a man whose memory is still revered by those who possessed any know- 
 ledge of him, his strict honesty and known probity rendering it sacred to 
 such as claimed him as their friend. He was possessed of a mechanical 
 genius in a strong degree. He it was who invented the well known 
 screw-auger. 
 
 Warmly addicted to this his favorite passion, he wished to instil into 
 the minds of his children, a taste for mechanics. With some of them he 
 succeeded. As soon as his son John Joseph had attained the age of fourteen, 
 he bound him an apprentice to an uncle, who was a gunsmith, then a 
 resident at Lancaster, but after sometime removed to Detroit, taking his 
 nephew with him. At that place, his stay was but short, on account of 
 scarcity of business. He returned on foot with a single guide, who died in 
 the wilderness which lay between Detroit and his home. It was here that 
 hardships and misfortune first were felt, his future companions during a 
 
xii. Memoir. 
 
 length of years devoted to God and his country. Young Henry returned 
 to his parents and home, dissatisfied with the employment a judicious father 
 had pointed out for him, as the means by which he wished him to gain a 
 future subsistence. His ardent mind panted after military glory. The 
 troubles of his country, which was then making vigorous, and ultimately 
 successful struggles for a total emancipation from slavery, wrought strongly 
 upon one, the acme of whose hopes and wishes was, to be one of those 
 who contended most for freedom. In the fall of 1775, he clandestinely 
 joined a regiment of men raised in Lancaster county, for the purpose of 
 joining Arnold, who at that time was stationed at Boston. His father 
 was commissary to the troops, which office obliged him to attend them to 
 Reading. It was at this time, under circumstances which rendered him 
 most liable to detection from his parent, he left his home to wander, at 
 the age of sixteen, in a strange land. Thus a thirst for glory inflamed his 
 youthful breast, and superseded every other passion and affection of his 
 heart. After enduring all the fatigues of a veteran soldier, they entered 
 Canada on his birthday — an eventful one to him. He endured hard- 
 ships here, which, in his own simple style, he fully enumerates. It was 
 in prison, where he lay for nine months, that he contracted a disease (the 
 scurvy), which at that time did not make its appearance, but six weeks 
 afterwards, on his return home, at a time when least expected, it made its 
 appearance under its most malignant form. It was at a time when it 
 became a duty incumbent on him to continue in the army. A captaincy 
 had been procured for him in the Virginia line, and a lieutenancy in that 
 of Pennsylvania. He had designed to accept of the command under the 
 hero Morgan, which was that of captain, but the disposer of all events 
 arrested his career, and instead of his fond expectations being accomplished, 
 all his hopes were blasted, his high prospects faded, and became a dreary 
 void, by the order of that Omnipotence, who furnished him with that 
 fortitude which enabled him, through all his misery, to kiss the rod that 
 chastised him. It was after two years' continuance on the couch of sick- 
 ness, his leg, which was the unfortunate cause of all his illness, began to 
 heal, and renovated health to give hopes that peace yet remained for him. 
 As his lameness precluded all possibility of his again entering the army; 
 as he had, by a disregard of parental authority, at least so far as concerned 
 his trade, forfeited his claim to his father's exertions to place him in such 
 a situation as would make him capable of rendering himself useful to 
 lociety, a vigorous effort on his part was necessary ; resolution ^las not 
 
Memoir. xiii. 
 
 wanting ; it was made. He bound himself as an apprentice to John 
 Hubley, Esq., prothonotary of the county of Lancaster, as a clerk in the 
 office. Here for four years he pursued his business with the closest appli- 
 cation, and discharged the duties of his office with unabated care and strict- 
 ness ; and when the labors of the day were over, his nights were consumed 
 in study, endeavoring to compensate himself, in some measure, for the 
 neglect that his education had suffered by his becoming a soldier. His 
 frame, still somewhat debilitated by his illness, was not capable of sustain- 
 ing the fatigues of office; his health suffered much from labor so severe 
 and application so intense. The time of his indentures being expired, he 
 commenced the study of law, under Stephen Chambers, Esq. Here he 
 became acquainted with his future companion in life, the youngest sister of 
 Mr. Chambers. He practised law from the year 1785, until December, 
 1793. As his law knowledge was known to be extensive, his abilities and 
 talents met their due reward, with an appointment, by his excellency 
 Thomas Mifflin, governor, to the office of president of the second judicial 
 district of Pennsylvania. 
 
 A number of years had now elapsed, his family was large; by an unfor- 
 tunate removal to a country, at that period sickly, he was attacked by the 
 gout, which from inexperience, and owing to his having no knowledge as 
 to the consequences that would necessarily ensue, did not take proper pre- 
 cautions, so as to render it a regular disease. Under that deceptious name, 
 numerous disorders invaded his frame, and at times with so much severity, 
 that he was necessitated to continue at home, which prevented him from 
 executing his official duties as a judge. It was during seven long years of 
 bodily suffering, that his mind and memory reverted to those scenes more 
 forcibly than ever, which formed so eventful a period in a life of misfortune 
 and vicissitude. The interesting narrative of the sufferings of that band 
 of heroes, of which he was the youngest, is a simple tale of truth, which he 
 undeviatingly throughout his book adheres to. 
 
 He is supported in all his assertions, by the testimony of a number of his 
 companions in that arduous campaign, men of character and respectability 
 His relation of incidents, his descriptive accounts of the country they passed 
 through, the situation of Quebec, and the disposition of the army, all mark 
 him to have been a youth of accurate observation, of a comprehensive and 
 intelligent mind. Possessing, as he must necessarily have done, activity of 
 spirit and contempt of fatigue, he gained the approbation and esteem of his 
 seniors. The buoyant spirits of youth rose high over misfortune ; under 
 
xiv. Memoir. 
 
 the pressure of the severest distress, vivacity was still retained, and burst 
 forth at intervals to cheer his hopeless companions. 
 
 Disease had now made rapid progress on a constitution weakened by 
 repeated attacks, and accumulation of disorders, which no skill could 
 counteract or remedy. The nonperformance of his duties caused petitions 
 from the several counties to be presented to the legislature, for his removal ; 
 nothing was alleged against him but absence. That honorable house, 
 having examined and considered the charges, acquitted him with honor. 
 His commission he retained for the space of two years afterwards ; but ill- 
 ness and debility increasing, and a knowledge of his infirmities being in- 
 curable, compelled him to resign that office, which he had held with 
 integrity, for seventeen years. Four months succeeding, his worn out frame 
 was destined to feel the stroke of death, and his freed soul to seek refuge 
 in the bosom of his Father and his God. He died at Lancaster, April 15th, 
 1811, aged 53. 
 
 m 
 
ARNOLD'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST QUEBEC 
 
 PRELIMINARY. 
 
 When the bold enterprise of invading Canada by the 
 way of the Kennebec river and the uninhabited wilder- 
 ness of Maine had been determined upon by Washington, 
 in the autumn of 1775, he wrote to congress as follows, 
 on the 21st September, from Cambridge, Mass., where 
 the American army was encamped : 
 
 I am now to inform the honorable congress that, encouraged by the 
 repeated declarations of the Canadians and Indians, and urged by their 
 requests, I have detached Col. Arnold, with one thousand men, to penetrate 
 into Canada by way of Kennebec river, and, if possible, to make himself 
 master of Quebec. By this manoeuvre I proposed either to divert Carleton 
 from St. John's, which would leave a free passage to General Schuyler, or, 
 if this did not take effect, Quebec, in its present defenceless state, must fall 
 into his hands an easy prey. I made all possible inquiry as to the distance, 
 the safety of the route, and the danger of the season being too far advanced, 
 but found nothing in either to deter me from proceeding, more especially as 
 it met with very general approbation from all whom I consulted upon it. 
 But that nothing might be omitted to enable me to judge of its propriety 
 and probable consequences, I communicated it, by express, to General 
 Schuyler, who approved of it in such terms that I resolved to put it in 
 immediate execution. They have now left this place seven days, and, if 
 favored with a good wind, I hope soon to hear of their being safe in 
 Kennebec river. 
 
 A copy of his plan of the proposed route was sent to 
 congress, in the following words : 
 
 Route to Quebec, yVow Kennebec River. 
 From the mouth of Kennebec river to Quebec, on a straight line, h 
 two hundred and ten miles. The river is navigable for sloops about thirty- 
 eight miles, and for flat-bottomed boats about twenty-two miles ; then you 
 meet Taconick falls, and from Taconick falls to Norridgewock, as the 
 river runs, thirty-one miles ; from thence to the first carrying place, about 
 thirty miles; carrying place four miles, then a pond to cross, and another 
 carrying place, about two miles to another pond; then a carrying place 
 about three or four miles to another pond ; then a carrying place to the 
 western branch of Kennebec river, called the Dead river; then up that 
 
2 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 river, as it runs, thirty miles, some small falls and short carrying places 
 around them intervening; then you come to the height of the land, and 
 about six miles carrying place, into a branch which leads into Ammeguntick 
 pond, the head of Chaudiere river, which falls into the St. Lawrence 
 river about four miles above Quebec. 
 
 From the American Archives of Peter Force, Wash- 
 ington's instructions to Arnold are given, intrusting him 
 with the command of the forces detached from the main 
 army for the expedition, and the course he was to pursue 
 in the execution of his important mission. 
 
 To Co/one/ Benedict Arnold, Commander of the Detachment of the Continental 
 Arm^ destined against Quebec : 
 
 Sir : You are intrusted with a com'^and of the utmost consequence to 
 the interest and liberties of America ; upon your conduct and courage, and 
 that of the officers and soldiers detached on this expedition, not only the 
 success of the present enterprise, and your own honor, but the safety and 
 welfare of the whole continent, may depend. I charge you, therefore, and 
 the officers and soldiers under your command, as you value your own safety 
 and honor, and the favor and esteem of your country, that you consider 
 yourselves as marching, not through an enemy's country, but that of our 
 friends and brethren — for such the inhabitants of Canada and the Indian 
 Nations have ^approved themselves in this unhappy contest between Great 
 Britain and America ; that you check, by every motive of duty and fear 
 of punishment, every attempt to plunder or insult any of the inhabitants of 
 Canada. Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure 
 any Canadian or Indian, in his person or property, I do most earnestly 
 enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the 
 enormity of the crime may require ; should it extend to death itself, it will 
 not be disproportioned to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause. 
 But I hope and trust that the brave men who have voluntarily engaged in 
 this expedition will be governed by diffi;rent views ; that order, discipline, 
 and regularity of behavior, will be as conspicuous as their courage and 
 valor. I also give it in charge to you to avoid all disrespect or contempt 
 of the religion of the country; and if common prudence, policy, and a true 
 Christian spirit, will lead us to look with compassion upon their errors, 
 without insulting them, while we are contending for our own liberty, we 
 should be very cautious of violating the rules of conscience in others, ever 
 considering that God alone is the judge of the heart of man, and to him 
 only in this case they are answerable. 
 
 Upon the whole. Sir, I beg you to inculcate upon the officers and soldiers 
 the necessity of preserving the strictest order during their march through 
 Canada ; to represent to them the shame, disgrace, and ruin, to themselves 
 and country, if they should, by their conduct, turn the heart of our brethren 
 in Canada against us ; and, on the other hand, the honors and rewards 
 which await them, if, by their prudence and good behavior, they conciliate 
 the affections of the Canadians and Indians to the great interests of America, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 3 
 
 and convert those favorable dispositions they have shown into a lasting union 
 and affection. 
 
 Thus wishing you, and the officers and soldiers under your command, 
 honor, safety, and success, I remain. Sir, your most obedient humble 
 servant, 
 
 George Washington. 
 To Colonel Benedict Arnold : 
 
 1. You are immediately on their march from Cambridge to take the 
 command of the detachment from the Continental Army against (Quebec, 
 and use all possible expedition, as the winter season is now advancing, and 
 the success of this enterprise (under God) depends wholly upon the spirit 
 with which it is pushed, and the favorable disposition of the Canadians and 
 Indians. 
 
 2. When you come to Newburyport. you are to make all possible inquiry 
 what men of war or cruisers there may be on the coast, to which this de- 
 tachment may be exposed on their voyage to Kennebec river; and if you 
 shall find that there is danger of being intercepted, you are not to proceed 
 by water, but by land, taking care on the one hand not to be diverted by 
 light and vague reports, and on the other not to expose the troops rashly to 
 a danger which by many judicious persons has been deemed very considerable. 
 
 3. You are by every means in your power to endeavor to discover the 
 real sentiments of the Canadians towards our cause, and particularly as to 
 this expedition 5 ever bearing in mind that if they are averse to it, and 
 will not cooperate, or at least willingly acquiesce, it must fail of success. 
 In this case you are by no means to prosecute the attempt. The expense 
 of the expedition and the disappointment are not to be put in competition 
 with the dangerous consequences which may ensue from irritating them 
 against us, and detaching them from that neutrality which they have 
 adopted. 
 
 . 4. In order to cherish those favorable sentiments to the American cause 
 that they have manifested, you are as soon as you arrive in their country 
 to disperse a number of the addresses you will have with you, particularly in 
 those parts where your route shall lie, and observe the strictest discipline and 
 good order, by no means suffering any inhabitant to be abused, or in any 
 manner injured, either in his person or property j punishing with exemplary 
 severity every person who shall transgress, and making ample compensation 
 to the party injured. 
 
 5. Vou are to endeavor, on the other hand, to conciliate the affections 
 of those people, and such Indians as you may meet with, by every means 
 in your power; convincing them that we come at the request of many of 
 their principal people, not as robbers, or to make war upon them, but as 
 the friends and supporters of their liberties as well as ours ; and, to give 
 efficacy to these sentiments, you must carefully inculcate upon the officers 
 and soldiers under your command, that not only the good of their country, 
 and their honor, but their safety, depends upon the treatment of these 
 people. 
 
 6. Check every idea and crush in its earliest stage every attempt to 
 plunder, even those who are known to be enemies to our cause; it will 
 create dreadful apprehensions in our friends, and when it is once begun, none 
 
4 Campaign against Quebec ^ i775- 
 
 can tell where it will stop. I therefore again most expressly order that it 
 be discouraged and punished, in every instance, without distinction. 
 
 7. Whatever king's stores you shall be so fortunate as to possess yourselves 
 of are to be secured for the continental use, agreeable to the rules and regu- 
 lations of war published by the honorable congress. The officers and 
 men may be assured that any extraordinary services performed by them will 
 be suitably rewarded. 
 
 8. Spare neither pains nor expense to gain all possible intelligence on 
 your march, to prevent surprises and accidents of every kind ; and endeavor, 
 if possible, to correspond with General Schuyler, so that you may act in 
 concert with him. This I think may be done by means of the St. Fran9ois 
 Indians. 
 
 9. In case of a union with General Schuyler, or if he should be in 
 Canada upon your arrival there, you are by no means to consider yourself as 
 upon a separate and independent command, but are to put yourself under 
 him, and follow his directions. Upon this occasion, and -all others, I 
 recommend most earnestly to avoid all contention about rank. In such a 
 cause, every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country. 
 
 10. If Lord Chatham's son should be in Canada, and in any way fall in 
 your power, you are enjoined to treat him with all possible deference and re- 
 spect. You cannot err in paying too much honor to the son of so illustrious 
 a character and so true a friend to America. Any other prisoners who may 
 fall into your hands you will treat with a? much humanity and kindness as 
 may be consistent with your own safety and the public interest. Be very 
 particular in restraining not only your own troops but the Indians from all 
 acts of cruelty and insult which will disgrace the American arms, and irritate 
 our fellow-subjects against us. 
 
 11. You will be particularly careful to pay the full value for all pro- 
 visions or other accommodations which the Canadians may provide for you 
 on your march ; by no means press them or any of their cattle into your 
 service, but amply compensate those who voluntarily assist you. For this 
 purpose you are provided with a sum of money in specie, which you will 
 use with as much frugality and economy as your necessities and good policy 
 will admit, keeping as exact account as possible of your disbursements. 
 
 12. You are by every opportunity to inform me of your progress, your 
 prospect, and intelligence, and upon any important occurrence to despatch 
 an express. 
 
 13. As the season is now far advanced, you are to make all possible 
 despatch ; but if unforeseen difficulties should arise, or if the weather should 
 become so severe as to render it hazardous to proceed, in your own judgment 
 and that of your principal officers, whom you are to consult, in that case 
 you are to return, giving me as early notice as possible, that I may give you 
 such assistance as may be necessary. 
 
 14. As the contempt of the religion of a country, by ridiculing any of its 
 ceremonies or affronting its ministers or votaries, has ever been deeply 
 resented, you are to be particularly careful to restrain every officer and 
 soldier from such imprudence and folly, and to punish every instance of it. 
 On the other hand, as far as lies in your power, you are to protect and 
 support the free exercise of the religion of the country, and the undisturbed 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^77 S' 5 
 
 enjoyment of the rights of conscience in religious matters, with your utmost 
 influence and authority. 
 
 George Washington. 
 
 The address to the people of Canada was printed for 
 distribution as opportunity offered, and was in the follow- 
 ing words : 
 
 By bis Excellency George Washington, Esquire, Commander in Chief of 
 
 the Army of the United Colonies of North America. 
 To the Inhabitants of Canada ; 
 
 Friends and Brethren : The unnatural contest between the English 
 colonies and Great Britain has now risen to such a height, that arms alone 
 must decide it. The colonies, confiding in the justice of their cause and 
 the purity of their intentions, have reluctantly appealed to that Being in 
 whose hands are all human events. He has hitherto smiled upon their 
 virtuous efforts. The hand of tyranny has been arrested in its ravages, and 
 the British arms, which have shone with so much splendor in every part 
 of the globe, are now tarnished with disgrace and disappointment. Gene- 
 rals of approved experience, who boasted of subduing this great continent, 
 find themselves circumscribed within the limits of a single city and its sub- 
 urbs, suffering all the shame and distress of a siege, while the freeborn 
 sons of America, animated by the genuine principles of liberty and love of 
 their country, with increasing union, firmness, and discipline, repel every 
 attack, and despise every danger. Above all, we rejoice that our enemies 
 have been deceived with regard to you ; they have persuaded themselves, 
 they have even dared to say, that the Canadians were not capable of dis- 
 tinguishing between the blessings of liberty and the wretchedness of slavery j 
 that gratifying the vanity of a little circle of nobility would blind the eyes 
 of the people of Canada ; by such artifices they hoped to bend you to their 
 views, but they have been deceived; instead of finding in you that poverty 
 of soul and baseness of spirit, they see, with a chagrin equal to our joy, that 
 you are enlightened, generous, and virtuous; that you will not renounce 
 your own rights, or serve as instruments to deprive your fellow-subjects of 
 theirs. 
 
 Come, then, my brethren, unite with us in an indissoluble union ; let us 
 run together to the same goal. We have taken up arms in defence of our 
 liberty, our property, our wives, and our children ; we are determined to 
 preserve them or die. We look forward with pleasure to that day, not 
 far remote, we hope, when the inhabitants of America shall have one 
 sentiment, and the full enjoyment of the blessings of a free Government. 
 Incited by these motives, and encouraged by the advice of many friends of 
 liberty among you, *he grand American congress have sent an army into 
 your province, under the command of General Schuyler, not to plunder, 
 but to protect you; to animate and bring forth into action those sentiments 
 of freedom you have disclosed, and which the tools of despotism would 
 extinguish through the whole creation. To cooperate with this design, 
 and to frustrate those cruel and perfidious schemes which would deluge our 
 frontiers with the blood of women and children, I have detached Colonel 
 Arnold into your country, with a part of the army under my command. I 
 
6 Campaign against ^ebec J ^11 S' 
 
 have enjoined upon him, and I am certain that he will consider himself, 
 and act as in the country of his patrons and best friends. Necessaries and 
 accommodations of every kind which you may furnish he will thankfully 
 receive, and render the full value. I invite you, therefore, as friends and 
 brethren, to provide him with such supplies as your country affords ; and 
 I pledge myself not only for your safety and security, but for ample compensa- 
 tion. Let no man desert his habitation. Let no one flee as before an 
 enemy. The cause of America and of liberty is the cause of every virtuous 
 American citizen, whatever may be his religion or his descent. The 
 United Colonies know no distinction but such as slavery, corruption, and 
 arbitrary domination, may create. Come, then, ye generous citizens, range 
 yourselves under the standard of general liberty, against which all the force 
 and artifice of tyranny will never be able to prevail. 
 
 George Washington. 
 
 The following order is found among the general orders 
 of the commander in chief, of Sept. 8, 1775 : 
 
 The detachment going under the command of Colonel Arnold, to be 
 forthwith taken off the roll of duty, and to march this evening to Cambridge 
 common, where tents and every thing necessary are provided for their 
 reception. The rifle company at Roxbury, and those from Prospect hill, to 
 march early to-morrow morning, to join the above detachment. Such 
 officers and men as are taken from General Green's brigade, for the above 
 detachment, are to attend the muster of their respective regiments to-morrow 
 morning, at seven o'clock, upon Prospect hill ; when the muster is finished, 
 they are forthwith to rejoin the detachment at Cambridge. 
 
 So many journals of this expedition have been pre- 
 served, and published with annotations and introductions 
 more or less extensive, some of the more important of 
 them are alluded to instead of going over the same ground 
 with an elaborate introduction to the narrative which 
 Judge Henry has left to us. 
 
 The most complete and circumstantial of these narra- 
 tives that have attained to publication, are those of Henry, 
 Thayer and Senter. The former was published in a 
 separate volume in 1812, and has since been republished. 
 Senter's may be found in vol. i of the Penn. Hist. Soci- 
 ety Bulletin. The Journal of Melvin has been published 
 in two or three editions. Meigs's in the Mass. Hist. 
 Soc. Collections. Ware's in the New Eng. Hist, and 
 Genealogical Register, annotated by Mr. Justin Winsor. 
 The Maine Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. i, 2d ed., gives 
 several of Arnold's letters and orders during the expedi- 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S- 7 
 
 tion, and a narrative principally derived from the pub- 
 lished journals. The Journal oi Capt, Thayer has been 
 elaborately annotated by the Rev. Edwin M. Stone, and 
 published by him with an exhaustive bibliographical and 
 historical introduction, which has been published entire 
 in the Rhode Island Hist. Soc. Collections. 
 
 In view of the well preserved narratives in the collec- 
 tions of the historical societies ot this remarkable episode 
 in the history of the revolution, the publication of a new 
 edition of Judge Henry's simple but truthful account of 
 the expedition, was thought to be an enterprise of doubt- 
 ful utility, unless accompanied by new and important 
 adjuncts, further illustrating its authenticity, and the 
 movements ot the actors in the scene. Whatever it 
 may lack therefore in bringing out new and startling facts, 
 the contribution oi a new memoir of Judge Henry, a 
 few brief notes, and an index, so often omitted in such 
 works, together with some documentary papers intro- 
 ductory to the narrative, are relied upon as an apology 
 for the present edition, the previous crude ones being 
 entirely out of print, and unattainable. 
 
 The narrative of Henry is the only one giving an ac- 
 count of the pioneer expedition of his party to discover 
 the source of the Chaudiere river, a service that was ex- 
 ecuted with much energy and expedition, and attended 
 with great peril and hardship. Looking at the exploit 
 from this distant period, there seems to have been a good 
 deal of misdirecteci energy and hardihood in the conduct 
 of the enterprise, occasioning disaster and loss by un- 
 skillful management, amounting almost to recklessness, 
 by which provisions and munitions of all kinds were 
 wrecked, and time and human force inefficiently ex- 
 pended. The pioneer detachment under Steele, and the 
 advance party under Arnold made good progress, but 
 there was apparent lagging in the rear in bringing up the 
 supplies, and the final defection of Enos was fatal to the ! 
 entire success of the expedition, which was the capture | 
 of Quebec. The attainment of that object would have 
 
8 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' 
 
 secured Canada to the revolutionists, and saved the valu- 
 able lives of Montgomery and others, and might have 
 given another destiny to Arnold. 
 
 The original edition of the narrative was published at 
 Lancaster, Pa., in 1812, with the following notice, and 
 recommendation by one of the compatriots of the author. 
 
 To THE Public. 
 
 This work is given to the world, as left by Judge 
 Henry. Had he lived to superintend the printing of it 
 himself, many alterations would, no doubt, have been 
 made, many passages which may at present appear ob- 
 scure, would have been fully explained, and many differ- 
 ences of style corrected. As the work purports to be 
 written by Judge Henry, it was thought improper to 
 make any alterations or additions, trusting that the world, 
 when acquainted with the circumstances under which it 
 was published, will be disposed to pardon trivial errors 
 as to the truth of the principal facts. The following letter 
 from General Michael Simpson, is ample testimony : 
 
 . Dear Sir : I have read your work " of the expedition 
 through the wilderness in 1775." So far as I was con- 
 cerned in the transactions related in the work, they are 
 truly stated. That expedition, perhaps the most arduous 
 during the rej^iplutionary war, is truly represented. The 
 public may, in the general, be assured that the account 
 is genuine. 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 Michael Simpson.* 
 
 ' For a notice of Michael Simpson see a subsequent page. 
 

 CAMPAIGN AGAINST QUEBFX. 
 
 By John Joseph Henry. 
 
 My dear Children : 
 
 There is a point in the history of the American 
 revolution, hitherto little attended to ; as yet imperfectly 
 related, and now at this late day almost forgotten ; which 
 would deserve and require the talents and genius of a 
 Xenophon, to do it real justice. As your father in early 
 life had a concern in that adventure, permit him to relate 
 to you in the words of truth, a compendious detail of the 
 sufferings of a small band of heroes ; unused, to be sure, 
 to military tactics and due subordination, but whose souls 
 were fired by an enthusiastic love of country, and a 
 spirit such as has often inspired our ancestors, when 
 determined to be free. In giving you this relation, 
 knowing him as you do, you will scarcely call in question 
 his veracity ; particularly when he assures you upon the 
 honor of a gentleman and an honest man, that every word 
 here related, to the best of his recollection and belief, is 
 literally true. He could not be so unjust to your morals, 
 your veracity, or integrity, as to state any thing to you 
 which he knew, or even suspected to be untrue. He 
 has himself been too much the victim of base liars, not 
 to endeavor to eradicate so vile a principle from your 
 minds. His own education, though made by his truant- 
 isms (in avoidance of the bounteous and liberal designs 
 of his good father), an incorrect one, yet the piety and 
 real religious fervor of his parents, never would tolerate 
 a lie. This mental vice, to them, was the greatest of 
 
lo Campaign against ^ehec^ ^775- 
 
 all abominations, as it is with your father : it is also his 
 most fervent hope and prayer, that every one of you, 
 will not only contemn the lie, but hold in sovereign 
 detestation the liar. 
 
 Persons at your age, and at this advanced stage of 
 the improvement and melioration of our soil, in a climate 
 so far south as ours, can scarcely form a correct con- 
 ception, but from actual observation, of the sterility, the 
 dreariness and the destitution of every comfort of life, 
 which a wilderness in a high northern latitude exhibits. 
 A confidence however in your good sense, encourages, 
 and in fact animates him, to put that upon paper, which 
 has a thousand times, in detached parcels, been the subject 
 of amusing prattle around the fireside. This is done the 
 rather at this time, as some very atrocious scoundrels 
 who never looked an enemy in the eye, now assume the 
 garlands and honors which ought to adorn the brows of 
 more worthy men. 
 
 In the autumn of 1775, our adorable Washington 
 thought it prudent to make a descent upon Canada. A 
 detachment from the American grand army, then in the 
 vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts, was organized, to 
 fulfil this intention, by the route of the Kennebec and 
 Chaiidiere rivers. It was intended as a cooperation with 
 the army of General Montgomery, who had entered the 
 same province, by the way of Champlain and Montreal. 
 Colonel Benedict Arnold was appointed the commander 
 in chief of the whole division. The detachment consisted 
 of eleven hundred men. Enos' was second in command.. 
 Of this I knew nothing, but from report. Riflemen 
 composed a part of the armament. These companies, 
 from sixty-five to seventy-five strong, were from the 
 southward : that is. Captain Daniel Morgan's company 
 
 ' The expedition consisted of two battalions ; the first commanded by) 
 Lieut. Col. Christopher Greene ; the second under Lt. Col. Roger Enos.| 
 It was subdivided into three divisions, the rear division being under the '\ 
 command of Enos, who, 25th October, abandoned the enterprise with his 
 division, ignominiously taking the provisions, and returned to Cambridge. — M. \ 
 
 ^- ,.;,,...- ^ ' ■■ . 4 . ., ., . ^.. 
 
 ^—' ' "■ 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ I775- n 
 
 from Virginia ; that of Captain William Hendricks from 
 Cumberland county in Pennsylvania, and Captain Matthew 
 Smith's company from the county of Lancaster, in the 
 latter province/ The residue, and bulk of this corps 
 consisted of troops from Massachusetts, Rhode Island 
 and Connecticut. It has flown from my memory, 
 whether we had any from New Hampshire ; but there 
 is an impression on my mind that we had, as General 
 Dearborn, who was of the latter province, commanded 
 a company in the expedition. All these men were of as 
 rude and hardy a race as ourselves, and as unused to the 
 discipline of a camp, and as fearless as we were. It fell 
 to me to know many of them afterwards intimately ; 
 speaking generally, without any allusion to particulars, 
 they were an excellent body of men, formed by nature 
 as the stamina of an army, fitted for a tough and tight 
 defence of the liberties of their country. The principal 
 distinction between us, was in our dialects, our arms, 
 and our dress. Each man of the three companies bore 
 a rifle-barreled gun, a tomahawk, or small axe, and a 
 long knife, usually called a scalping-knife, which served 
 for all purposes, in the woods. His under-dress, by no 
 means in a military style, was covered by a deep ash- 
 colored hunting-shirt, leggings and moccasins, if the latter 
 could be procured. It was the silly fashion of those 
 times, for riflemen to ape the manners of savages.^ 
 
 '^ No sooner was a call for volunteers issued in 1775, than we find a 
 company formed in Paxton and Derry in Pa., to march to (Quebec ; having as 
 officers and privates Matthew Smith, James Crouch, Richard Dixon, 
 Robert McClure, Archibald Steele, Michael Simpson, John Joseph Henry, 
 John Harris, eldest son of John Harris founder of Harrisburgh, and other 
 honored names, now seldom recalled, but the remembrance of whose valiant 
 deeds, hardy endurance, and patriotic sacrifices will never be forgotten by a 
 grateful people. Dixon and Harris never returned from g^^ticc. One of 
 them certainly was killed there ; the fate of the latter is quite uncertain. — 
 Centennial Address at Harrisburgh, July 4, I S 7 6, by A. B. Hamilton. — M. 
 
 ' The Canadians who first saw these men emerge from the woods, said 
 they were -vetu en toile, clothed in linen. The word toUe was changed to 
 • fo/e, iron plate. By a mistake of a single word the fears of the people were 
 greaJily increased, for the news spread that the mysterious army that descend- 
 ed from the wilderness was clad in sheet iron. — M. 
 
12 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 Our commander, Arnold, was of a remarkable cha- 
 racter. He was brave, even to temerity ; was beloved 
 by the soldiery, perhaps for that quality only. He 
 possessed great powers of persuasion, was complaisant ; 
 but, withal, sordidly avaricious. Arnold was a short, 
 handsome man, of a florid complexion, stoutly made, and 
 forty years old at least." 
 
 On the other hand Morgan was a large, strong bodied 
 personage, whose appearance gave the idea history has left 
 us of Belisarius. His manners were of the severer 
 cast ; but where he became attached he was kind and 
 truly affectionate. This is said, from experience of the 
 most sensitive and pleasing nature ; activity, spirit and 
 courage in a soldier, procured his good will and esteem. 
 
 Hendricks was tall, of a mild and beautiful counte- 
 nance. His soul was animated by a genuine spark of 
 heroism. Smith was a good looking man, had the air 
 of a soldier, was illiterate and outrageously talkative. 
 The officers of the eastern troops were many of them 
 men of sterling worth. Colonel Christopher Greene 
 seemed too far advanced in life for such hard service, 
 yet he was inspired by an ardor becoming a youth. He 
 afterwards did the public good service at Redbank on the 
 Delaware, in the autumn of 1777. Majors Meigs, 
 Febiger and Bigelow, were excellent characters. As 
 we acted in the advance, the latter gentlemen were not 
 well known to us, until sometime afterwards. Your 
 father was too young to enjoy any other honor than that 
 of exposing himself, in the character of a cadet, to every 
 danger. This little army in high spirits, marched from 
 Prospect hill near Cambridge in Massachusetts, on the 
 iith of September, 1775, and on the following day^ 
 
 ' Arnold was but thirty-four years of age at this time. Notices of Arnold 
 are found in the biographical dictionaries and elsewhere, and a pedigree of 
 his family is given in Hough's Am. Biog. Notes, p. 8. — M. 
 
 2 Portions of the army took different routes to Newburyport. The 
 companies under Major Return J. Meigs marched from Roxbury, through 
 Cambridge, Mystick, Maiden, Lynn, Salem, Danvers, Beverly, Wenham, 
 and Rowley. - 7l<fi2,?j. Hist. Soc. Coll., 2d series, 11, 227, 228. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- ^3 
 
 arrived at Newburyport (which is formed by the waters 
 of the Merrimac river). This place, at that time, was a 
 small but commercial town, near the border of Massa- 
 chusetts. Here we remained encamped five days, provid- 
 ing ourselves with such articles of real necessity, as our 
 small means afforded. On the afternoon of the sixth 
 day, we embarked aboard of ten transports ;^ sailed in 
 the evening, and at dawn of day descried the mouth of the 
 Kennebec river. The. wind was strong but fair. The 
 distance of this run was 150 miles. We ascended the 
 river to Colonel Colborn's ship yard ;^ here we left our 
 vessels, and obtained bateaux, with which we proceeded 
 to Fort Western. At this place, on the day of our arrival, 
 an arrangement was made by the commander in chief, 
 which in all probability sealed the destiny of your parent. 
 It was concluded to dispatch an officer and seven men 
 in advance, for the purposes of ascertaining and marking 
 the paths, which were used bv the Indians at the numer- 
 ous carrying-places in the wilderness, towards the heads 
 of the river ; and also, to ascertain the course of the river 
 Chaudiere, which runs from the height of land, towards 
 Quebec. 
 
 To give some degree of certainty of success to so 
 hazardous an enterprise, Arnold found it necessary to 
 
 ' On the 19th the detachment, consisting of ten companies ofmusketmen, 
 and three companies of riflemen, amounting to iioo men, embarked on 
 board of ten transports, and sailed for the Kennebec river. — Ihid, 228. — M. 
 
 ^ The bateaux were built at Agry's point, about two miles below Gardiner, 
 the residence of Major Colborn. It is mentioned in Meigs's Journal of the 
 expedition, that but fourteen days had elapsed since orders had been given 
 for building two hundred bateaux, collecting provisions for and levying 
 eleven hundred men, and marching them to this place. Here the army 
 embarked, on the 22d September, having taken two days to transfer their 
 baggage and stores. It is mentioned in Hanson's History of Gardner and 
 Pittston, that Col. Colborn, who built the bateaux, was never paid for them, 
 and that his heirs unsuccessfully petitioned congress for remuneration. In 
 Thayer's Journal the construction of the bateaux is most severely condemned 
 as a fraud upon the government. See p. 6, Thayer's Journal^ R. I, 
 Collections, vol. 6. — M. 
 
14 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 select an officer of activity and courage ; the choice fell 
 upon Archibald Steele' of Smith's company, a man of 
 an active, courageous, sprightly and hardy disposition, 
 who was complimented with the privilege of naming his 
 companions. These consisted of Jesse Wheeler, George 
 Merchant, and James Clifton, of Morgan's ; and Robert 
 Cunningham, Thomas Boyd, John Tidd, and John 
 
 ' Archibald Steele, a brother of Gen. John Steele, was a man of great 
 intrepidity and resolute daring. Upon the breaking out of the Revolution 
 he and a man named Smith raised a company in Lancaster county and 
 marched to Boston, where they were organized into a regiment and placed 
 under the command of Benedict Arnold. This was the regiment that made 
 the celebrated march through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec, in the 
 winter of 1775, which has ever been remembered as one memorable in the 
 annals of American history. During this march Archibald Steele had the 
 command of a party of men who were selected to go before the army and 
 mark out the roads and crossing places ; and on the arrival of the army at 
 the St. Lawrence he was appointed superintendent of the crossing of the 
 river. At the head of his company Steele marched with the army to the 
 attack upon Quebec, but upon the fall of Gen. Montgomery the Americans 
 retreated, and Arnold's division were all taken prisoners. He was badly 
 wounded in the left hand, two of his fingers having been carried away by 
 a musket shot. The following may be cited as showing the heroic daring 
 of Capt. Archibald Steele : On one occasion as the Americans were crossing 
 a river in bark canoes, these were filled to their utmost capacity with men, 
 and Capt. Steele seeing no room in the canoe leaped into the river, rested 
 his hands on the stern of the boat whilst one of the men therein sat upon 
 them, and thus was he dragged through the floating ice to the opposite 
 shore. When they reached the shore, life was almost extinct; the soldiers 
 wrapped him in their blankets, and rolled him over the ground to infuse 
 new life in him. On his return home from the Quebec expedition he met 
 the American army in New Jersey, and was informed by Gen. Hand that 
 two of his brothers, John Steele and Wm. Steele, were then serving with 
 the army. Capt. Archibald Steele asked Gen. Hand if he thought his 
 brother John would be competent to assume the command of a company 
 (being but eighteen years of age.) Hand replied that he would warrant 
 his qualification, and the commission was produced. Archibald Steele was 
 afterwards appointed deputy quartermaster general, a position he retained 
 for some considerable time. He was appointed by Washington colonel of 
 a western expedition, but sickness prevented the acceptance of this com- 
 mand He held tor some time in Philadelphia his position of military 
 storekeeper. He died in Philadelphia, Oct. 19, 1832, aged 91 years. He 
 had three sons in the naval service during the war of 1812 (George, 
 William and Matthias), who were captured, taken to England, and there 
 for a time detained as prisoners of war. — Harris's B'log. Hut. Lancaster 
 Co., Pa., 561. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, '^11 S' ^5 
 
 M'Konkey, of Smith's company. Though a very youth, 
 yet in a small degree accustomed to hardships, derived 
 from long marches in the American woods, Steele's 
 course of selection next fell upon your father, who was 
 his messmate and friend. Two birch-bark canoes were 
 provided ; and two guides, celebrated for the manage- 
 ment of such water craft, and who knew the river as 
 high up as the great carrying-place were also found. 
 These were Jeremiah Getchel, a very respectable man, 
 and John Home, an Irishman who had grown gray in 
 this cold climate. 
 
 This small party, unconscious of danger, and animated 
 by a hope of applause from their country, set forward 
 from Fort Western in their light barks, at the rate of 
 from fifteen to twenty, and in good water, twenty-five 
 miles per day. These canoes are so light, that a person 
 of common strength may carry one of the smallest kind, 
 such as ours were, many hundred yards without halting.^ 
 Yet they will bear a great burden, and swim nearly 
 gunwale deep ; an admirable description of them is given 
 by Hearne, in his Journey to the Coppermine river. 
 Steele's canoe bore five men with their arms and 
 baggage, which last was indeed light in quantity and 
 quality, one barrel of pork, one bag of meal, and 200 
 weight of biscuit. The other canoe carried seven men, 
 their arms and baggage, and a due proportion of provisions. 
 
 ' The gentlemen composing this party were unwilling to impose upon 
 me, any thing above my apparent strength, yet in the heyday of youth, I 
 would clap a canoe on my back, and run a hundred yards across a carrying- 
 place. This is done by a particular mode of management. There is a 
 broad stave, something like a flour barrel-stave, but straight and thicker, 
 with two perforations in it, an inch or more apart, towards the middle of 
 the stave. A thong of stout leather is inserted through those holes, and 
 tightly bound to the central cross-bar of the canoe. The carrier swings 
 the canoe by a sudden jerk upon his shoulders, and which he can handle 
 with ease, throwing the hollow side of the canoe on his back, the stave, if 
 it may be so called, resting principally on the hind part of the head, and 
 the prominences of the shoulders. Thus he may, if a strong man, pass 
 over a considerable space of ground of a difficult nature, in a short time 
 with much speed. — Henry. 
 
1 6 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 On the evening of the 23d of September, our party 
 arrived at Fort Halifax,' situated on the [)oint formed by 
 a junction of the Sebasticook and Kennebec rivers. 
 Here our commander, Steele, was accosted by a Captain 
 Harrison, or Huddlestone, inviting him and the company 
 to his house. The invitation was gladly accepted, as the 
 accommodation at the fort, which consisted of old block 
 houses and a stockade in a ruinous state, did not admit 
 of much comfort ; besides it was inhabited, as our friend 
 the captain said, by a rank tory. Here for the first time 
 the application of the American term tory^ was defined 
 to me by the captain. Its European definition was well 
 known before. Anot'her interesting conversation upon 
 the part of the captain, struck my mind as a great 
 curiosity in natural history, and well deserving com- 
 memoration ; he observed that he had immigrated to the 
 place he then resided at, about thirty years before, most 
 probably with his parents, for he did not then appear to 
 be much beyond forty. That at that period the common 
 deer which now inhabits our more southern climate, was 
 the only animal of the deer kind which they knew, un- 
 less it was the elk ; and them but partially. In a short 
 space of time the moose deer appeared in small numbers, 
 but increased annually afterwards, and as the one species 
 became more numerous, the other diminished : so that 
 the kind of deer first spoken of, at the time of this infor- 
 mation, according to the captain, was totally driven from 
 that quarter. The, moose deer reigned the master of 
 the forest. This anecdote, if true, might in such minds 
 
 ' Fort Halifax was built by Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts in 1754, by 
 engagement with the Plymouth company, who were to build Fort Western 
 at Cushnoc now Augusta. It was located at Ticonic, the conHuence of the 
 Sebasticook with the Kennebec, and was built of hewn timber, with a block 
 house at opposite angles of the fort, and picketed. Plans of both forts are 
 given in North's History of Augusta. At Ticonic was the first carrying 
 place, where all the provisions and baggage had to be transported by land a 
 distance of eighty rods, and the bateaux dragged over by human force aided 
 by a yoke of oxen. — M. 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S' '7 
 
 as those of BufFon, or De Pauw, give occasion to systems 
 in natural history, totally inconsistent with the laws of 
 nature ; still there may be something in it ; animals, like 
 human beings, whether forced by necessity or from 
 choice, do migrate. Many instances rriight be given 
 of this circumstance of the animal economy, in various 
 parts of the world. The above relation is the only 
 instance which has come to my knowledge, where one 
 species has expelled another of the same genus. If the 
 fact be true, it is either effected by a species of warfare, 
 or some peculiarity in the appearance of the one kind, 
 and of horror or perhaps of disgust in the other; we know 
 the rock goat [steinbock of the Germans and boquetin of 
 the French) formerly inhabited the low hills of southern 
 France and of the Pyrenees ; they have been driven 
 thence by some peculiar cause, for they are now con- 
 fined to the tops of the highest mountains in Europe. It 
 is true, it has been frequently advanced by men of re- 
 spectability and information in Pennsylvania, that the 
 grey fox which is indigenous in the United States, and 
 all North America, has been driven from the Atlantic 
 sea coast into the interior, by the introduction of the red 
 fox from Europe. But we have no sufficient data to 
 warrant this assertion. The truth probably is, that as 
 the grey fox is a dull and slow animal, compared with the 
 sprightliness, rapidity, and cunning of the red fox, that 
 the first has been thinned by the huntsmen, and gradually 
 receded from the seacoast to the forest, where, from his 
 habits, he is more secure. The cunning and prowess 
 of the latter, has enabled him to maintain his station 
 among the farms, in despite of the swiftness and power- 
 ful scent of the dogs. But that which puts this assertion 
 out of view, is that the red fox is indigenous throughout 
 North America. He and the grey fox are found in the 
 highest latitudes, but there, their skins are changed into 
 more beautiful furs than those of ours, by the effects of 
 climate. Another notion has been started within these 
 
I 8 Campaign against ^ebec^ '^11 S- 
 
 twenty years pas^ of the fox squirrel expelling the large 
 grey squirrel : but it is fallacious. 
 
 Be these things as they may, we spent an agreeable 
 and most sociable evening with this respectable man, and 
 his amiable family. On the following day, our party 
 rose early, and accompanied by our host, waited upon 
 the tory^ who then showed himself to be an honest man, 
 of independent principles, and who claimed the right of 
 thinking for himself. He exchanged a barrel of smoke- 
 dried salmon for a barrel of pork, upon honest terms. 
 
 We set out from this place, well pleased with our host, 
 the old tory, and our bargain. In a very few days, 
 without other accident than the spraining of Lieut. 
 Steele's ancle, by his slipping, when carrying a canoe 
 over the path, at one of the intermediate portages, we 
 arrived safely at Norridgewock falls. Coming to the 
 landing place, the water being smooth and very deep, a 
 rock, as we passed it, drew my attention very particularly, 
 it was standing in a conical form, five feet in perpen- 
 dicular height, and ten or twelve feet in diameter at the 
 base. I observed that next the water, the face of the 
 rock, which was a bluish flint, was, as it were, scalloped 
 out, down to the very water's edge. Asking Getchel 
 how this had occurred, his reply was that the Indians, in 
 former times, had from thence obtained their spear and 
 arrow points. It seems unreasonable that without a 
 knowledge of iron, they should have been capable of 
 executing such a labor. However, upon observation and 
 reflection, since Getchel's time, an inducement from 
 experience and reasoning occurs, which influences me to 
 believe that he might have been correct in his observation. 
 The rock, no doubt, still remains, and there is leisure 
 for inquiry and discussion. 
 
 We were hurried. The village within one hundred 
 yards of the pitch of the fall, was evidently a deserted 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ 1775- ^9 
 
 Indian town.' We saw no one there. It was without 
 the vestige of inhabitants. Dressing our victuals here 
 at mid-day, an occurrence happened, which disgusted me 
 in an extreme degree. On this day, an estimate of our 
 food was made, and an allotment in quantity to each man, 
 though no actual separation of shares took place, as that^ 
 it was agreed, should happen at the twelve-mile carrying 
 place. By the estimate now made, it seemed that there 
 was something of a surplus. As we had had hard work, 
 that and some preceding days, and harder fare, our good 
 commander was inclined to indulge us. The surplus 
 was allotted for this day's fare. It happened that 
 M'Konkey was, by routine, the cook. He boiled the 
 meat (vegetable food of any kind was not attainable), 
 and when sauntering towards the fall, he called us to 
 dinner. We came eagerly. He was seated on the earth, 
 near the wooden bowl. The company reclined around 
 in a like posture, intending to partake ; when M'Konkey 
 raising his vile and dirty hands, struck the meat, exclaim- 
 ing, " By G — d this was our last comfortable meal." 
 The indelicacy of the act, its impiety, and the grossness 
 of the expression, deprived the company of appetite. On 
 several subsequent occasions M'Konkey showed himself 
 as mean in spirit, as he was devoid of decency. We soon 
 rid ourselves of him. Many years afterwards, at Lan- 
 caster, in Pennsylvania, he applied and received a loan 
 by way of charity from me, which he meanly solicited 
 with the most abject sycophancy. So true it is, in 
 general, that those who disregard the social decencies of 
 
 ' The advanced party arrived at Norridgewock on the 2d of October. 
 This was the third carrying place, and had been the residence of the noted 
 Jesuit missionary, Rale, among the Conibas, usually called the Norridgewock 
 Indians, who for many years were a great scourge to the advancing English. 
 A vigorous attack was made upon the place in 1724, when Rale was killed 
 on the 24th of August, and the Indian village destroyed. Vestiges of it, 
 and of a Catholic chapel, as well as the priest's grave still remained. Here 
 were repaired their hastily constructed bateaux, which in the end caused 
 great loss of provisions and munitions, and here they left the abode of man, 
 and entered upon the uninhabited wilderness. — M. 
 
20 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S- 
 
 life, are equally incapable of those virtues which make 
 man respectable in society. 
 
 On the afternoon of this day, we crossed to the west 
 side of the river below the fall : searched for, and with 
 difficulty found the carrying place. Having marked it 
 with precision, we rested awhile. On the west side of 
 the river, not very distant from us, there was a consider- 
 able extent of natural meadow.' One of our party, ex- 
 
 ' In traversing this meadow, which was a beautiful plain, one of the 
 party found the horns of a moose-deer, which from appearances had been 
 shed in the foregoing summer, or perhaps in the beginning of autumn j 
 being then about five feet ten inches high. Getchell, facetiously, yet gravely, 
 insisted by way of measurement, that I should stand under the main fork. 
 The crown of my head rubbed against the crown- work of the horns. This, 
 to all of us, was matter of great surprise. However, in a short time after- 
 wards the circumstance of size was thought little of, when we came into 
 contact with the living animal, upon whose head such horns grew. There 
 is a paucity ot words for a description upon paper, of the enormous dimensions 
 of the male moose, which we saw, and of their horns. The male-deer 
 bears horns; the female bears none. Those horns, which we examined 
 minutely, were of a large size, but not so large as some we saw on the 
 living deer. About midway of the horn, from the crown of the head, there 
 is a broad, flat part of the horn, called the blade, which, in the specimen 
 under examination, was full two of my spans, or nearly twenty inches from 
 whence branched the proud antlers or prong. There is no beast of the 
 forest more handsomely decorated, unless it be the reindeer of the north of 
 Europe and Asia. In the evenings, in the first ascension of the Kennebec 
 and Dead rivers, sitting around our solitary smoke fires, we have often seen 
 those stately deer passing the river in droves, sometimes of fifteen or twenty 
 in number, the one walking after the other in the accustomed path, but due 
 care and discipline kept our arms quiet. The country around Natanis's 
 house, a circle of ten or fifteen miles, was at that time an admirable hunting 
 ground. One day, suddenly passing a sharp point of the river about five 
 miles below Natanis's cabin, we as suddenly fell back. We wanted fresh 
 food. Regardless of what might follow, Steele permitted us to fire. We 
 had seen five or six of those monstrous deer, standing in the water knee-deep, 
 feeding on their favorite food, the red willow. Boyd, Wheeler and myself 
 passed the river, out of sight of the moose, in the most cautionary manner. 
 The stream here was not more than sixty yards wide. We approached 
 them through the thick underwood, which clothed the bank. Boyd pre- 
 ceded. The rustling of the leaves alarmed the deer. They threw up their 
 heads. What a sight ! The antlers of several of them, seemed to exceed 
 in size, those we had already seen. Boyd, apprehensive they were about 
 to run from us, fired without giving Wheeler and myself an opportunity to 
 take a stand, but the greatest misfortune was, that the worthy Boyd had 
 neglected to clean his gun that day, it made long fire, and but a trifling 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^11 S' ^' 
 
 ploring the country for deer, met with two white men 
 who had come from a distance, mowing the wild grass 
 of the meadow. An agreeable barter ensued ; we gave 
 salted pork, and they returned two fresh beaver tails, 
 which, when boiled, renewed ideas imbibed with the 
 May-butter of our own country. Taste, however, is 
 arbitrary, and often the child of necessity. Two years 
 before this, acorns had supplied me with a precarious 
 sustenance, on a journey from Sandusky to Pittsburg ; 
 it momentarily sustained life and bodily labor, but the 
 consequence was ill health. Your respectable kinsman, 
 General Gibson, received me into his house at Logstown 
 on the Ohio, and restored m.e sound to my parents. 
 These minute matters are noted here from an expectation 
 that, knowing the privations men may suffer in respect 
 to food, you will each of you remember to receive the 
 dispensations of Providence, of every kind, if not with 
 thankfulness, at least with submission. 
 
 We passed the portage of Norridgewock falls. Thence 
 for several days, the navigation for such canoes as ours 
 was tolerable, and in the most part convenient. We 
 ascended the river rapidly, blazing every carrying-place. 
 Having now receded many miles from the last white 
 inhabitants at Norridgewock, it became us therefore to 
 proceed cautiously. A circumspection was adopted, 
 which, though prudent in the predicament we were in, 
 appeared to be rather harsh to the feelings ; the firing of 
 a gun was prohibited ; though the weather was chilling. 
 
 report. The bullet scarcely reached the deer. Wheeler and myself were 
 creeping to our places when Boyd's gun disturbed the animals. The guns 
 in our hands were ineffectually discharged. This jejune occurrence is related 
 merely for the introduction of a single observation. When the bull moose, 
 at the rustling of the leaves, and afterwards when Boyd fired, threw up 
 their heads, the tips of their horns seemed to me to stand eighteen feet in 
 the air. The ridge of the shoulder seemed seventeen hands high. The 
 largest of these animals was a lusus natura. The moose in ordinary, is of 
 an ash-colored grey. The one I speak of was flecked, in large spots of red, 
 on a pure white ground. His skin, if we could have obtained it, would 
 have been a valuable curiosity. — Henry. 
 
2 2 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 we dared scarcely make a smoke at night. Angling for 
 trout and chub in the morning and evening, made up our 
 stock of fresh food. We frequently saw ducks, etc., 
 and many moose deer, yet we discharged not a gun ; in 
 truth we had been made to believe that this country had 
 numerous Indians in it. 
 
 The party proceeded without molestation but from 
 natural rock, and a strict current (by the 27th of Sep- 
 tember) ' to the twelve-mile carrying-place.^ Here a 
 new scene opened. Our guides professed that neither of 
 them had ever been north of this place across the carry- 
 ing-place, but Getchel alleged he had hunted to the east 
 of the river. 
 
 Now we assumed the title of being our own guides, 
 giving to Getchel due respect and attention for his 
 information relative to the route north. He informed me 
 that the course of the river, which is injudiciously called 
 the Dead river, tended sixty or one hundred miles 
 northerly, took a short turn southwardly, and was then 
 within twelve miles of us. That that part was full of 
 rapids, and impassable to boats, or even canoes. We 
 searched for the carrying-place, and found a path tolerably 
 distinct, which we made more so by blazing the trees and 
 snagging the bushes with our tomahawks ; proceeding 
 until evening, the party encamped at the margin of a 
 
 • It will be remembered that this was the advanced party. Other 
 divisions were nearly two weeks later in reaching this point. The divisions 
 do not seem to have followed each other in the same route, some going 
 by water, others seeking better paths than had been taken by their 
 predecessors. — M. 
 
 ^ This celebrated portage is through the third range of townships of the 
 Bingham purchase, in latitude 45° 15^, and is about fourteen miles long from 
 the Kennebec to Dead river. It is divided into four carrying places by 
 three ponds. The first carry is three and three-fourths miles to the first 
 pond, which is one-fourth of a mile wide 5 the second carry a mile to the 
 second pond, about as wide as the first ; the third about the same length as 
 the second, to the third pond about four miles wide. From this the fourth 
 carry of four miles reaches to the Dead river. — North's History of Augusta, 
 12,7-8. The map facing the title page, gives a tolerably correct plan of the 
 route pursued, on as small a scale as it is possible to represent it. — M. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 23 
 
 small lake, perhaps about half a mile wide, where there 
 was plenty of trout, which old Clifton, who was good at 
 angling, caught in abundance. Here, in a conference 
 on the subject, it was resolved that two persons of the 
 party should remain (with about one-half of the pro- 
 visions), until the return of our main body, calculating 
 the return would be in eight or ten days. It had been 
 observed that Clifton, being the oldest of the company, 
 yet brave and a good shot, from the fatigues we had en- 
 dured, had begun to flag. With the assent of our chief, 
 the younger part of us proposed to him to remain where 
 we then were, with the better part of the provisions. 
 After considerable altercation he assented, on condition 
 of his having a companion. The youngest of the party 
 nominated M'Konkey, who could not restrain his joy at 
 the proposal. It was advised for them to retire to the 
 south end of the pond, perhaps a mile, and there, as in a 
 perfect recess, remain concealed ; knowing M'Konkey, 
 the consequences were foreseen. After the accomplish- 
 ment of this affair. Lieutenant Steele parted the provision 
 appropriated for the marchers, not by pounds or ounces, 
 my dear children but by : "Whose shall be this." Some 
 of you have been taught how this is done ; if you should 
 have forgotten, it will be well now to tell vou of it. 
 The principal of the party, if he is a gentleman and man 
 of honor, divides the whole portion equally into as many 
 parts as there are men, including himself; this is done 
 under the eyes of all concerned, and with their approba- 
 tion the officer then directs some one of the company to 
 turn his back upon him, and laying his hand on a par- 
 ticular portion, asks, " Whose shall be this ?" The 
 answer is hap-hazard. A, S, etc., or any other of the party. 
 It has frequently occurred that we were compelled to 
 divide the necessaries of life in this way, and it could 
 not be fairly said, that any fraud or circumvention took 
 place. 
 
 September 28th, we left Clifton and his companion in 
 a most dreary wild, but with enough to support them ; 
 
24 Campaign against ^ebec, ^77 S- 
 
 and if they would act honorably, to assist us. A laugh- 
 able occurrence ensued. Sergeant Boyd and myself had, 
 that day, the charge of unloading and loading the canoes, 
 which, as customarily, being very light and easily blown 
 off shore by a puff of wind, were drawn half their lengths 
 on the beach ; we ran a race who should perform his 
 duty soonest — he arrived first. Taking up his canoe 
 suddenly, but hoping to have a better stand than the 
 shore presented, he set his foot on a large bed of moss 
 seemingly firm, and sunk ten feet into as cold water, 
 while fluid, as was ever touched. We soon passed the 
 pond, found the path, marked it, and came, at the end of 
 several miles, to a second pond, if my recollection serves, 
 larger than the former : traversing this, we encamped 
 more cautiously than ever. On the next day, pursuing 
 the path, and marking it, a third pond of small diameter 
 was presented to our view. Passing this, by the evening 
 we encamped on the north bank of the Dead river. 
 
 This river, which is nothing more than an extension 
 of the Kennebec,' is called by this remarkable name, 
 because a current, a few miles below the place we were 
 now at, and for many miles above it, is imperceptible. 
 It is deep and perhaps two hundred and fifty yards wide. 
 The ground we footed within the last three days, is a 
 very rugged isthmus, which forms the great bend of the 
 Kennebec. Coming from the high ground towards the 
 Dead river, we passed a bog which appeared, before we 
 entered it, as a beautiful plat of firm ground, level as a 
 bowling green, and covered by an elegant green moss. 
 That day, to save my shoes for severer service, moc- 
 casins had been put in their place. Every step we made, 
 sunk us knee-deep in a bed of wet turf. My feet were 
 pained and lacerated by the snags of the dead pines, afoot 
 and more below the surface of the moss ; these and many 
 other occurrences, which happened afterwards, con- 
 
 1 The Dead river is a western branch of the Kennebec, as will be seen 
 by reference to the map, — M. 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S- ^5 
 
 vinced me more than reading could, of the manner of 
 the formation of turf. Sometimes, to lighten the canoes 
 when ascending strict water, several of us would disem- 
 bark, and proceed along shore, and on many occasions, 
 traverse a point of land to save distance. Doing this, we 
 often met with what we thought a flat ground covered 
 by moss. Entering the parterre, as it might be called, 
 and running along that which we found to be a log 
 covered with moss, the moisture on the log, would cause 
 a foot to slip — down we would come, waist deep in a 
 bed of wet moss ; such incidents always created a laugh. 
 A spark, if tliese beds of moss had been dry, as they 
 were wet, would have made a dreadful conflagration : the 
 upper country seemed throughout as if covered with it. 
 To the south and west of the bog first mentioned, there 
 was a natural meadow of great extent. On the west it 
 reached, seemingly, to the foot of the mountains several 
 miles off. A beautiful creek serpentined through it and 
 formed a convenient harbor and landing place, opposite 
 to our camp, and directly to which the Indian path led us. 
 The timber trees of this, are in great measure different 
 from those of our country. Here are neither oaks, 
 hickories, poplars, maples nor locusts ; but there is a 
 great variety of other kinds of excellent timber, such as 
 the white and yellow pines, hemlock, cedar, cypress, and 
 all the species of the firs.^ These trees, in the low 
 grounds, grow to a verv large size ; on the hills, as we 
 approach northwardly, they seem to dwindle, particularly 
 as we come to the height of land ; but again rise to a 
 superb height, as we descend into the intervale, on the 
 streams running into Canada. Among the trees of this 
 country, there are two which deserve particular notice, 
 because of their remarkable qualities. These are the 
 
 ' The balsam hr (^pinus fraseri),ovtr\ook.eA by Michaux, but differing 
 from the silver fir, was found to be very abundant (Pres. Allen in vol. I, 
 Maine Hist. Coll., 160). It was this fir which Henry mentions, the liquid 
 of which he was taught to gather. — M. 
 
 •6 
 
26 Campaign against ^ebec^ '^11 S- 
 
 balsam fir, Canada balsam. Balm of Gilead fir, or 
 bahamum Canadense^ pinus bahomea^ which produces the 
 purest turpentine, and the yellowbirch The first, as its 
 vulgar name imports, yields a balsamic liquid, which has 
 been, and perhaps now is, much esteemed by the medi- 
 cal profession. The bark is smooth, except that there 
 are a vast number of white and lucid protuberances upon 
 it, of the size of a finger or a thumb nail, bulging from 
 the surface of the bark. This tree grows to the size of 
 from fifteen to twenty inches in diameter. From the 
 essays made, it seems to me that a vial containing a gill 
 might be filled in the space of an hour. Getchel, our 
 guide, taught me its use. In the morning when we rose, 
 placing the edge of a broad knife at the under side of the 
 blister, and mv lips at the opposite part, on the back of 
 the knife which was declined, the liquor flowed into my 
 mouth freely. It was heating and cordial to the stomach, 
 attended by an agreeable pungency. This practice, 
 which we adopted, in all likelihood contributed to the 
 preservation of health. For though much wet weather 
 ensued, and we lay often on low and damp ground, and 
 had very many successions of cold atmosphere, it does 
 not now occur to me, that any one of us was assailed by 
 sickness, during tiiis arduous excursion. The yellow 
 birch is useful in many particular instances to the natives. 
 They form the body of the tree into setting-poles, 
 ■paddles, spoons and ladles. The bark, its better property, 
 serves as a covering for the frame of the canoe, much 
 in the same manner as the Esquimaux and Greenlanders 
 apply the seal skin. To you it may appear to be a strange 
 assertion, but to me it seems true, that the birch-bark 
 canoe is the most ingenions piece of mechanism man, in 
 a rude state, is capable of performing. This bold idea 
 requires a disclosure of the means and the manner of the 
 work, which shall be done before I leave the subject.^ 
 
 ' The birch- bark canoe, as intimated before, in the body of the work, 
 is not only a curious, but a most ingenious machine. So far as my descrip- 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 27 
 
 From the bark of the yellow-birch the Indian also forms 
 bowls, and baskets of a most beautiful construction, and 
 it even serves as a wrapper for any nice matter which it 
 is wished to keep securely, much in the manner we use 
 brown wrapping-paper. The appearance of the yellow 
 birch tree at a distance, is conspicuous. Approaching 
 near it, in the autumn, it seems involved in rolls, some- 
 thing resembling large circular rounds of parchment, or 
 yellow-paper. There is in my mind no question, but that 
 among a numerous and industrious people, such as the 
 
 tive powers extend, you shall have its construction, described in writing 
 but without the aid of the pencil it seems to be almost impossible to convey 
 to you a just and accurate comprehension of the distinct parts of this 
 beautiful piece of water-craft. Having had several opportunities to observe 
 the manner of the formation of the birch-bark canoe, in its various stages, 
 a description of its sections may not be disagreeable to you. In the con- 
 struction of the canoe, the bow and stern pieces are separate frames, alike 
 in dimensions, and made of cedar, cypress, or any other light wood ; yet 
 very light, and so well or tightly bound by tenons, as to require a considerable 
 effort to break them. These bow and stern pieces, suppose a canoe often, 
 or even fifty feet, are connected by laths, with that which I have called 
 gunwales (gunnels), correspondent in size with the intended length of the 
 canoe. These gunwales are made from the toughest and best of the timber 
 that the country produces. The gunwales are strongly secured to the head 
 and stern by tenons and the cedar root in a most neat and strong manner. 
 The ribs of the canoe, according to its size, are from two to five inches in 
 diameter, of the straightest cedar or fir, without knots, closely fitted together, 
 side by side, and well sewed by means of an awl to the gunwales. This 
 frame is covered with the yellow-birch-rind, an eighth, a sixth, or a fourth 
 of an inch thick. This bark, when applied to canoes, is from two to four 
 feet in length ; commensurate with the extension of the bow and stern from 
 each other. Each part of this bark, where the seams meet, is nicely sewed 
 together by the split cedar root ; these seams are then pitched over in a 
 ridge, by a hard pitch, in the width of perhaps an inch or more, so as to 
 make the vessel, truly that which seamen call water-tight. But to this 
 clumsy attempt to describe to you a boat, which you have never seen, and 
 perhaps never will see, it seems requisite to add another observation. The 
 bark which encircles the bottom of the canoe, is strongly attached to the 
 gunwales by cedar root, much in the same manner as I have seen you 
 threading wire, for tht making of artificial flowers. This bark, thus pre- 
 pared and applied, speaking comparatively (great with small), is a much 
 stronger material, than your thread, either of flax or silk. The gunwale 
 was as neatly laced by the cedar, and almost as ornamental, and equally 
 strong in texture, as the canes we sometimes see from India, covered with 
 splits of rattan, or some other pliant plant, of southern growth. The 
 
2 8 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^17 S- 
 
 Chinese, this indigenous product would become an 
 article of general use in various ways. The bark, when 
 taken from the tree, may be obtained lengthwise of the 
 tree, from one to four feet in breadth, and of a length 
 equal to the circumference. It is sometimes white with 
 a yellowish cast, but more usually of a pale, and some- 
 times of a deep gold color. It is partible, when ever so 
 thick, into the most filmy sheets. The Indians, for 
 canoes, use it of the thickness of from a fourth, down to 
 the eighth of an inch, according to the size of the vessel. 
 Curiosity and convenience made us reduce it often to a 
 
 paddles are uniformly made ot ash, where it can be obtained, but most 
 usually of birch, or even of softer wood, in this part of Canada. Many of 
 the paddles which I saw, were double-bladed, that is a blade at each end of 
 the handle or pole, and in the hands of a strong person would be, from its 
 formation, apparently as light as a feather. The pushing-pole was of the 
 same kiud of materials, but light, and if iron could be had, was shod at the 
 but-end. The rapid and rocky rivers which those poor people, the Indians, 
 must ascend and descend in their hunting excursions, and which they do 
 with inconceivable dexterity, requires a quickness of motion of the body, 
 particularly the arms, which is truly astonishing. The paddle, at this 
 moment used on the right, and then instantly cast on the left hand of the 
 canoe, requires a celerity of action which none but such as are used to those 
 exercises dare undertake. In those instances the double-bladed paddle, 
 saves half the time which would be employed by the single bladed, in these 
 arduous but necessary labors. Activity and agility, from the circumstance 
 of the precariousness of an Indian life, and their manner of subsisting, 
 become in their education a primary parental motive ; without those qualities, 
 an Indian can never acquire fame, and is often starved. 
 
 It often reexhilerates my mind, when reflecting on the waywardness and 
 unhappiness of my life, to remember the occurrences (July 1773), in a part 
 of a days journey from the windlass of the old carrying place, on the south 
 side of the river, west of Niagara, by a path which led us to a celebrated 
 fountain, a little below the brow of the hill, called Mount Pleasant, and 
 thence to the falls. My youthful imagination was greatly excited. The 
 company consisted of a French gentleman, my uncle John Henry, and 
 myself. The Frenchman was a trader who had but just arrived from the 
 Illinois country, and had dealt beyond the Mississippi. When we came to 
 Stedman's, his canoe, attended by three or four couriers de /?ois, lay on the 
 beach turned upside down, with an immense number of packs of beaver, 
 press-packed, strewed around, perhaps the whole might have been 3000 lb. 
 weight. The canoe was of birch, fifty feet in'length, most beautifully made, 
 its breadth was probably from six to seven feet in the middle, I examined 
 with a curiosity, such as a boy of my age might possess. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 29 
 
 film, by no means thicker or more substantial than the 
 silky paper we obtain from India. It serves equally well 
 for the pencil as paper. Ink, however, flows upon it. 
 In the course of time a medium may be discovered to 
 preclude this inconvenience — this bark will preserve 
 better than paper. 
 
 September 30th. The company, not apprehending the 
 reverses which fortune had in store for them, left the 
 encampment full of courage and hope, though a strong 
 drift of snow, vvhich whitened all the surrounding hills, 
 had fallen during the night. Having smooth water, we 
 paddled away merrily, probably for thirty miles. 
 Getchel, besides his sheer wisdom, possessed a large fund 
 of knowledge concerning the country, which he had 
 derived from the aborigines, and much humorous 
 anecdote with which, in spite of our privations, he made 
 us laugh. It was omitted to be mentioned that, before 
 wc left our last encampment, it became a resolution of 
 the whole party that the pork in the possession of each 
 one should be eaten raw, and to eat but in the morning 
 and evening. As we could not obtain food in this 
 miserable portion of the globe, even for money, if we 
 had it, and having nothing else than our arms and our 
 courage to depend on; unacquainted with the true 
 distance of our expedition, for we had neither map nor 
 chart, yet resolved to accomplish our orders at the 
 hazard of our lives— we prudently began to hoard our 
 provision ; half a biscuit and half an inch square of raw 
 pork, became this evening's meal. The day's journey 
 brought us to the foot of a rapid, which convinced us 
 that the term Dead river was much misapplied. The 
 night was spent, not upon feathers, but the branches of 
 the fir or the spruce. It would astonish you, my dear 
 children, if there was leisure to explain to you, the many 
 comforts and advantages those trees afford to the way- 
 worn traveler. Suffice it now to say, v/e rested well. 
 
 October ist. The morning brought on new labors. 
 Our secondary guide and myself, thinking that we could 
 
30 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' 
 
 manage the water, slipped into our canoe. Getchel and 
 another worked Steele's, while our companions, crossing 
 the hill, marked the carrying-place. From our camp 
 two-thirds at least of these rapids were concealed from 
 our view. In much danger, and by great exertion, we 
 surmounted them in less than an hour. Taking in our 
 company, we had good water till the evening, when we 
 were impeded by a precipitate fall of four feet. We 
 encamped. 
 
 October 2d. Carrying here, we had good water all 
 the next day. Mere fatigue and great lassitude of body, 
 most likely, in a good measure, owing to the want of 
 food, caused us to sleep well. From cautionary motives 
 our guns, though not uncared for, were considered as 
 useless, in the way of obtaining food. Several of our 
 company angled successfully for trout, and a delicious 
 chub, which we call a fall fish. This place became re- 
 markable to me, as, sometime afterwards, my friends 
 Gen. Simpson,' Robert Dixon, and myself were here at 
 the point of death. This you will find in the sequel. 
 Carrying a {tw perches around this precipice, we got 
 into good water, and then performed a severe day's labor. 
 
 October 3d. The evening brought us to our en- 
 campment, on the south side of the river. Angling was 
 
 ' Michael Simpson was a native of Paxtang, Penn., born about 1740. 
 He entered the company of Capt. Matthew Smith, of Paxtang, as second 
 lieutenant, his commission bearing date June 25, 1775. ^^ ^^^ time of the 
 assault upon Quebec he was, by order of Arnold, in command as lieutenant 
 at the isle of Orleans. After the termination of the attack on Quebec he 
 returned with the remnant of the army. On the istof Dec, 1776, he was 
 appointed captain in Col. Thompson's regiment. He served in the battles of 
 Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and White Plains. Also served in SuUivan'a 
 campaign against the Northern Indians in 1779, ^^^ upon the consolidation 
 of the regiments he was retired in Jan. 1781. After the close of the war he 
 married, removed to his farm two miles below Harrisburgh on the west side 
 of the Susquehanna. He died June i, 1813, at the age of 73, and lies in 
 the grave yard at Paxtang church. The general was possessed of amiable 
 qualities, was a warm friend, kind, liberal and obliging [Letter from Dr. 
 Ogle). His death is mentioned in Drake's Biog. Dictionary as having 
 occurred 15 June, 1 81 3, aged 80. — M. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11'^- 3^ 
 
 resorted to for food. Sergeant Boyd, observing low 
 ground on the other side of the river, and an uncommon 
 coldness in the water, passed over, and in an hour returned 
 with a dozen trout of extraordinary appearance, long, 
 broad and thick. The skin was of a very dark hue, 
 beautifully sprinkled with deep crimson spots. Boyd 
 had caught these in a large and deep spring-head.' Con- 
 trasting them with those we caught in the river, they 
 were evidently of a different species. The river trout 
 were of a pale ground, with pink spots, and not so flat 
 or broad. 
 
 October 4th. The next day, proceeding onward, we 
 here and there met with rough water. In the evening 
 we were told that on the next day we probably should 
 arrive at the camp of Natanis, an Indian, whom our 
 commander was instructed to capture or kill. Natanis 
 was well known to the white inhabitants of the lower 
 country : they knew from him the geographical position 
 of his residence. The uninstructed Indian, if he pos- 
 sesses good sense, necessarily from his wanderings as a 
 hunter, becomes a geographer. This good man (as we 
 subsequently knew him to be), had been wrongfully 
 accused to Arnold, as a spy, stationed on this river to 
 give notice to the British government of any party pass- 
 ing this way into Canada : hence that cruel order. We 
 landed some miles below where we supposed his house 
 was. Our canoes were brought upon the shore, and 
 committed to the care of two of the party. We arrived 
 at the house of Natanis, after a march, probably of three 
 miles, over a flat country covered with pines, etc. Ap- 
 proaching on all sides with the utmost circumspection, 
 we ran quickly to the cabin, our rifles prepared, and in 
 full belief that we had caught Natanis. Some were 
 
 ^ This peculiarity of the trout is said to be common in deep water; ex- 
 posure to light affecting the color and structure of the fish. This is ven- 
 tured upon the remark of a trout fisherman without having given the subject 
 investigation. — M. 
 
32 Campaign against Quebec ^ '^11 S- 
 
 persuaded, at the distance of two hundred yards from the 
 place, that they saw the smoke of his fire. But the 
 bird was flown. He was wiser and more adroit than 
 his assailants, as you will afterwards learn. The house 
 vvas prettily placed on a bank twenty feet high, about 
 twenty yards from the river, and a grass plat extended 
 around, at more than shooting distance for a rifle, free 
 from timber and brushwood. The house, for an Indian 
 cabin, was clean and tight, with two doors, one fronting 
 the river, the other on the opposite side. We found 
 many articles c.f Indian fabrication, evidently such as 
 would not be totally abandoned by the owner : besides, 
 it was remarked, that the coals on the hearth, from their 
 appearance, had been burning at least within a week 
 past. These notions did not allay our apprehensions of 
 meeting with Indian enemies. The canoes, in the 
 meantime, having been brought up, we embarked and 
 proceeded witli alacrity. 
 
 This afternoon, in a course of some miles, we came 
 to a stream flowing from the west, or rather the northwest. 
 As we were going along in uncertainty, partly inclined 
 to take the westerly stream, one of the party fortunately 
 saw a strong stake, which had been driven down at the 
 edge of the water, with a piece of neatly folded birch- 
 bark, inserted into a split at the top. The bark, as it 
 was placed, pointed up the westerly stream, which at its 
 mouth seemed to contain more water than that of our 
 true course. Our surprise and attention were much 
 heightened, when opening the bark, we perceived a very 
 perfect delineation of the streams above us, with several 
 marks which must have denoted the hunting camps, or 
 real abodes of the map maker. There were some lines, 
 in a direction from the head of one branch to that of 
 another, which we took to be the course of the paths 
 which the Indians intended to take that season. This 
 map we attributed to Natanis ; if not his, to his brother 
 Sabatis, who, as we afterwards knew, lived about seven 
 miles up this westerly stream. For when our party, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ 1775' ZZ 
 
 after returning to the twelve mile carrying-place, had 
 again reascended the river, we were told, by the crew of 
 one of Morgan's boats, that they had mistaken the 
 westerly stream as the due route, and had found deserted 
 cabins at the distance already mentioned, and the property 
 of the late inhabitants placed in a kind of close cages, 
 made of birch-bark, in the forks of the trees ; these they 
 most iniquitously plundered. Venison, corn, kettles, 
 etc., were the product. Inspecting the map thus acquired, 
 we pursued our journey fearlessly- Now the river 
 became narrower and shallower. The strength of each 
 of us was exerted at poling or paddling the canoes. Some 
 strict water interfered, but in a few days we came to the 
 first pond, at the head of the Dead river. 
 
 October 7th. This first pond, in the course of the 
 traverse we made, might be about a mile, or a little more, 
 in diameter. Here, on a small island, scarcely contain- 
 ing one-fourth of an acre, we discovered and ate a 
 delicious species of cranberry, entirely new to us. It 
 grew upon a bush from ten to twelve feet high, the stock 
 of the thickness of the thumb, and the fruit was as large 
 as a may-duke cherry.' In the course of one or two 
 miles, we reached a second pond. Between this pond 
 and the third, we carried ; the communication, though 
 not long, was too shallow for our canoes. The carrying- 
 place was excessively rugged, and in high water formed 
 a part of the bed of the stream. The country around 
 us had now become very mountainous and rough. 
 Several of these mountains seemed to stand on insulated 
 bases, and one in particular, formed a most beautiful 
 cone, of an immense height. We rested for the evening. 
 
 October 8th. Being near the height of land which 
 
 divides the waters of New-England from those of 
 
 ■ Canada, which run into the St. Lawrence, the weather 
 
 ^ This was doubtless the acid fruit of ■viburnum oxycoccus, which I found 
 on the river De Loup, a branch of the Chaudiere, in Sept., 1824 (Pres. 
 Allen, in Me. Hist. Soc. Coll., i, 507). — M. 
 
34 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 in consequence of the approaching winter, had become 
 piercingly cold. My wardrobe was scanty and light. 
 It consisted of a roundabout jacket, of woolen, a pair of 
 half worn buckskin breeches, two pair of woolen stock- 
 ings (bought at Newbury port), a hat with a feather, a 
 hunting-shirt, leggings, a pair of moccasins, and a pair of 
 tolerably good shoes, which had been closely hoarded. 
 
 We set out early, yet jovially. We entered a lake 
 surrounded by high and craggy mountains, and per- 
 pendicular rocks of very considerable altitude, which 
 about eleven o'clock, a.m., cast us into a dusky shade. 
 Pulling the paddle, as for life, to keep myself warm, 
 some trifling observation which fell from me, relative to 
 the place we were in, such as its resemblance to the 
 vale of death, which drew the attention of the company : 
 Getchel, in his dry way, turning toward me, said, 
 " Johnny, you look like a blue leather whet stone." 
 The simplicity and oddity of the expression, and the 
 gravity of his manner, caused great merriment at my 
 expense ; it was enjoyed on my part, certain that it was 
 not an expression of disesteem, but affection, for the 
 man liked me. These minim tales and jejune occur- 
 rences are related to convey to your minds an idea, how 
 men of true spirit will beard 6^ezih in every shape, even, 
 at times, with laughter, to effectuate a point of duty 
 which is considered as essential to the welfare of their 
 country. Thus we went on, incessantly laboring, with- 
 out sustenance, until we came, about three o'clock, to 
 the extreme end of a fifth and the last lake. This day's 
 voyage might amount to fifteen or twenty miles.' 
 
 ' In the fall of 1858 a young man passing up the Dead-river valley and 
 across the chain of ponds, the head of the river, landing at the Arnold 
 trails, found by the side of the trail between the Dead-river waters and the 
 Chaudiere, the remains of an old musket, apparently having been left 
 standing against a tree, where it had rotted down. The stock was entirely 
 gone, and the barrel and mountings had fallen down together at the foot 
 of the tree. It is conjectured that the musket had been left there by one 
 of Arnold's soldiers, and the barrel is now in the possession of Mr. Co- 
 lumbus Steward, of North Anson, Maine, who says that the Arnold trail 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 3S 
 
 On this lake we obtained a full view of those hills 
 which were then, and are now, called the height of 
 land. It made an impression upon us that was really 
 more chilling than the air which surrounded us. We 
 hurried ashore, drew out our canoes, and covered them 
 with leaves and brush-wood. This done, with our arms 
 in our hands, and our provision in our pockets, we made 
 a race across the mountain, by an Indian path, easily 
 ascertainable, until we arrived on the bank of the Chau- 
 diere river. The distance is about five miles, counting 
 the rising and descent of the hill as two. This was the 
 acme of our desires. To discover and know the course 
 of this river, was the extent of our orders : beyond it, we 
 had nothing to do. Our chief, wishing to do every 
 thing a good officer could, to forward the service, asked, 
 if any one could climb a tree, around the foot of which 
 we then stood .? It was a pine of considerable height, 
 without branches for forty feet •, Robert Cunningham, a 
 strong athletic man, about twenty-five years old, pre- 
 sented himself. In almost the twinkling of an eye, he 
 
 on the divide as it is called, between the head waters of Dead river and the 
 Chaudiere is still easily followed, and is often passed over by lumbermen 
 and hunters. The following appeared in the Maire Farmer in 1877 : — M. 
 
 " A Centennial Relic. Mr. Sheppard Harville of Lincolnville, has in his 
 possession a French rifle gun barrel, that he found over thirty years ago, 
 on Dead river at the foot of Arnold's falls, so called from the fact of its 
 being on the route that Arnold marched n'nh his army, through the 
 wilderness to Point Levi, Quebec. It is one of the numerous falls by which 
 he was obliged to carry his bateaux; Skowhig falls, Skowhegan ; Bom- 
 bazee falls. Norridgewock 5 Carratunk falls, Solon ; and Hurricane falls, 
 near White's ferry, Dead river. 
 
 Arnold's falls are a few miles below Flagstaff village, where Arnold 
 raised his ag. He then sent Sergeant Bigelow and a few chosen men up 
 on a high mountain, near by, to see if they could discover settlements in 
 Canada; hence the name, Mt. Bigel^jw. 
 
 " Mr. Harville then of Solon, Charles Folsom and others of Skowhegan, 
 Hartly Green and Asa Green of Dead river, were driving logs for Captain 
 John Wheeler of Skowhegan. Hartly and Asa Green being the boatmen 
 on the drive near wheix- this gun barrel was found by Mr. Harville. 
 When discovered by him on the trail near the falls, it was resting against 
 a rock. The stock had entirely rotted off; and it is supposed to have been 
 left there by one of Arnold's men one hundred years ago last September." 
 
^6 Campaign against ^e/^ec, 1775. 
 
 climbed the tree. He fully discerned the meandering 
 course of the river, as upon a map, and even descried 
 the lake Chaudiere, at the distance of fourteen or fifteen 
 miles. The country around and between us and the lake 
 vv^as flat. Looking westward, he observed a smoke ; in- 
 timating this to us, from the tree where he sat, we 
 plainly perceived it. Cunningham came down ; the sun 
 was setting seemingly in a clear sky. 
 
 Now our return commenced. It so occurred, that I 
 was in the rear, next to Getchel, who brought it up. 
 We ran in single file, and while it was light, it was 
 observed by me, as we tried to stride into the footsteps 
 of the leader, that he covered the track with his feet ; 
 this was no mean duty. It required the courage, the 
 vigor, and the wisdom, which designates genuine man- 
 hood. Our object was to be concealed from a know- 
 ledge of any one who might communicate our presence 
 there, to the Canadian government. The race was 
 urged, and became more rapid by the indications of a 
 most severe storm of rain ; we had scarcely more than 
 gotten half way up the hill, when the shower came down 
 in most tremendous torrents. The night became dark 
 as pitch ; we groped the way across the ridge, and in 
 descending, relied on the accuracy of our leader, we 
 continued with speed. The precipice was very steep ; 
 a root, a twig, perhaps, caught the buckle of my shoe ; 
 tripped, I came down head foremost, unconscious how 
 far, but perhaps twenty or thirty feet. How my gun 
 remained unbroken, it is impossible to say. When I 
 recovered, it was in my hands. My companions had 
 outstripped me. Stunned by the fall, feeling for the 
 path with my feet, my arrival at the canoe-place was 
 delayed, till ten at night, an hour and more later than my 
 friends. An erection called a tent, but more correctly 
 a wigwam, was made in the hurry with forks, and cross- 
 poles, covered by the branches of fir. It rained inces- 
 santly all that night. If the clothes we wore had been 
 dry, they would have become wet — so we laid down in 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 31 
 
 all those we had on. Sleep came to my eyes, notwith- 
 standing the drippings of the pelting storm, through the 
 humble roof. 
 
 October 9th. We arose before day. The canoes 
 were urged suddenly into the water, it still rained hard, 
 and at daylight we thought of breakfasting. Gracious 
 God ! what was our fare ? What could we produce for 
 such a feast ? Rummaging my breeches pockets, I found 
 a solitary biscuit and an inch of pork. Half of the 
 biscuit was devoted to the breakfast, and so also by each 
 person, and that was consumed in the canoes as we 
 paddled over the lake. The rain had raised the lake, 
 and consequently the outlets about four teet. We slided 
 glibly along, over passages where a few days previously 
 we had carried our canoes. At the outlet of the fourth 
 lake, counting as we came up, a small duck appeared 
 within shooting distance. It was a diver, well known 
 in our country — a thing which we here contemn. 
 Knowing the value of animal food, in our predicament, 
 several of us fired at the diver : Jesse Wheeler, however 
 ( who all acknowledged as an excellent shot), struck it 
 with his ball. A shout of joy arose — the little diver 
 was safely deposited in our canoe. We went on quickly, 
 without accident, till the evening, probably traversing a 
 space of more than forty miles. At night-fall we halted, 
 weary and without tasting food since morning. Boyd 
 and Cunningham, who were right-hand men on most 
 occasions, soon kindled a fire against a fallen tree. An 
 occurrence this evening took place, which my dear 
 children you will hardly credit, but which (permit me to 
 assure you ) is sacredly true ; the company sat them- 
 selves gloomily around this fire. The cooks, according 
 to routine ( whether our chief or others), picked the duck, 
 and when picked and gutted, it was brought to the fire- 
 side. Here it became a question how to make the most 
 of our stock of provisions. Finally it was concluded to 
 boil the duck in our camp-kettle, together with each 
 man's bit of pork, distinctively marked by running a 
 4 
 
38 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S' 
 
 small skewer of wood through it, with his particular and 
 private designation. That the broth thus formed should 
 be the supper, and the duck on the ensuing morning 
 should be the breakfast, and which should be distributed 
 by " whose shall be this." Strange as this tale may ap- 
 pear to you, in these times, the agreement was religiously 
 performed. Being young, my appetite was ravenous, 
 as that of a wolf, but honor bound the stomach tightly. 
 
 We rose early and each person selected his bit of 
 pork, which made but a single mouthful ; there was no 
 controversy. The diver was parted most fairly, into ten 
 shares, each one eyeing the integrity of the division. 
 Lieutenant Steele causing the turning of the back, the 
 lottery gave me a victory over my respectable friend 
 Cunningham. His share, was the head and the feet, 
 mine one of the thighs. Hungry and miserable as we 
 were, even this was sport to our thoughtless minds. In 
 fact, we were sustained by a flattering hope that we 
 should soon meet our friends, the army. 
 
 October loth. Setting out early, by the evening we 
 made nearly fifty miles. The bit of pork and the rest 
 of the biscuit became my supper. My colleagues were 
 similarly situated. The morning sun saw us without 
 any food. We did not despond. The consolatory idea, 
 that on that, or the next day, we should certainly join 
 the army, infused energy into our minds and bodies. 
 Yet being without food, though we loved each other, 
 every endearment which binds man to man was, as it 
 were, forgotten in a profound silence. After a long 
 day's journey still we were supperless. 
 
 I ith. The succeeding morning, starting early, we ran 
 at a monstrous rate. The waters by additional rains 
 above, had risen greatly. By ten or eleven o'clock a.m., 
 we observed a great smoke before us, which from its 
 extent, we could ascribe to nothing else, than the en- 
 campment of the army, our friends and fellow soldiers. 
 After some time the light canoe, several hundred yards 
 before us (with Steele and Getchel in it), passed between 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- Z9 
 
 the forks of a tree, which lay rooted in the middle of 
 the stream, where most likely it had lain for many years. 
 All its branches had been worn away by the annual fric- 
 tions of the ice or waters, except those which formed 
 the fork, and those stood directlv against fhe current, 
 nearly a foot out of water, and ten or more feet apart. 
 Seeing our friends pass through safely, and being uncon- 
 scious that we were worse or less adventurous watermen 
 than they were, we risked it. We ran with great ve- 
 locity. My good Irishman steered. By an unlucky 
 stroke of some one of our paddles (for each of us had 
 one), but from his situation and power oyer the vessel it 
 was fairly attributable to the steersman, the canoe was 
 thrown a little out of its true course, just as it was en- 
 tering the prongs of the fork. Trifling as this may appear 
 to you, to us it was the signal of death. One of the 
 prongs took the right hand side of the canoe, within six 
 inches of the bow, immediately below the gunwale. 
 Quick as lightning that side of the canoe was laid open 
 from stem to stern, and water was gushing in upon us, 
 which would inevitably have sunk us in a second of time, 
 but for that interference of Providence, which is atheist- 
 ically called presence of mind, otherwise a host of men 
 could not have saved us from a watery grave. Instinct- 
 ively leaning to the left, we sunk the gunwale of that 
 side down to the water's edge, by which we raised the 
 broken side an inch and more out of it. Calling loudly 
 to our companions ahead, they soon saw our distress and 
 put in, at the great smoke. Carefully and steadily sit- 
 ting, and gently paddling, many hundred yards, we landed 
 safely. Here was no army, no friends, no food, only a 
 friendly fire, kindled by ourselves as we ascended the 
 river ; it had been our camp. The fire we had made 
 had scarcely more than smoked, but now it had crept 
 into the turfy soil, and among the roots of trees, and was 
 spread over half an acre. Our situation was truly hor 
 rible. When we had examined the broken canoe, and 
 had rummaged both for the means of mending it, every 
 
40 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 heart seemed dismayed. Our birch-bark and pitch had 
 been exhausted in former repairs, we were without food, 
 perhaps one hundred miles from the army, or perhaps 
 that army had returned to New England. That sensa- 
 tion of the njind called the horrors, seemed to prevail. 
 Getchel alone was really sedate and reflective. He 
 ordered the other guide to search for birch bark, whilst 
 he would look among the pines for turpentine. We fol- 
 lowed the one or the other of these worthies, according 
 to our inclinations, and soon returned with those desira- 
 ble materials. The cedar root was in plenty under our 
 feet. Now a difficulty occurred, which had been unfore- 
 seen, and which was seemingly destructive of all hope. 
 This was the want of fat or oil of every kind, with 
 which to make the turpentine into pitch. A lucky 
 thought occurred to the youngest of the company, that 
 the pork bag lay empty and neglected, in one of the 
 canoes. The thought and the act of bringing it were 
 instantaneous. The bag was ripped, and as if it had 
 been so much gold dust, we scraped from it about a pint 
 of dirty fat. Getchel now prepared an abundance of 
 pitch. The cedar root gave us twine. The canoe was 
 brought up to the fire. We found every rib, except a 
 few at the extreme points, actually torn from the gun- 
 wale. All hands set to work — two hours afterwards 
 the canoe was borne to the water. 
 
 We embarked, and proceeding cautiously, as we 
 thought, along the shore (for we dared not yet, with our 
 craggy vessel, venture into deep water), a snag, standing 
 up stream, struck through the bottom of the canoe. 
 This accident happened about five hundred yards from 
 the fire. We put back with heavy hearts and great 
 difficulty — our friends followed. It took an hour to 
 patch the gap. The cup of sorrow was not yet full. 
 As the men were bearing the wounded canoe to the 
 water, Sergeant Boyd who paddled in the small canoe, 
 which was drawn up as usual, taking hold of the bow 
 raised it waist high (as was right) intending to slide it 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 4^ 
 
 gently into the water — the bank was steep and slippery. 
 Oh ! my dear children, you cannot conceive the dread 
 and horror the succeeding part of this scene produced 
 in our minds : Mr. Boyd's own feet slipped — the canoe 
 fell from his hands — its own weight falling upon the 
 cavity formed by the declivity of the bank and the 
 water — broke it in the center, into two pieces, and which 
 were held together by nothing but the gunwales. Now 
 absolute despair for the first time seized me. A thought 
 came across my mind, that the Almighty had destined 
 us to die of hunger, in this inhospitable wilderness. The 
 recollection of my parents, my brothers and sister, and 
 the clandestine and cruel manner of my deserting them, 
 drew from me some hidden, yet burning tears, and much 
 mental contrition. This was unknown, unseen and un- 
 heard of by any, but he who is present everywhere, knows 
 everything, and sees our inmost thoughts. Getchel 
 (comparing small things with great, who much resembled 
 Homer's description of Ulvsses, in his person, and whose 
 staid and sober wisdom and foresight, also bore a like- 
 ness to the talents of that hero), resigned, yet thoughtful 
 and active, instantly went to work. The canoe was 
 brought to the fire and placed in a proper posture for the 
 operation. The lacerated parts were neatly brought 
 together, and sewed with cedar root. A large ridge of 
 pitch, as is customary in the construction of this kind of 
 water craft, was laid over the seam to make it water- 
 tight. Over the seam a patch of strong bark a foot in 
 width, and of a length sufficient to encircle the bottom 
 even to the gunwales, was sewed down at the edges and 
 pitched. Again over the whole of the work, it was 
 thought prudent to place our pork bag which was well 
 saturated with liquid fat. It was a full yard wide, and 
 was laid down in the same manner. This work which 
 was laborious nearly consumed the rest of the day. 
 
 We set out notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, 
 and would it is likely have gone ail night, well knowing 
 the water below to be good, but for an enlivening occur- 
 
42 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 rence which soon after happened. Hunger drove us 
 along at a cautious but rapid rate. The sterihty of the 
 country about had afforded us no game, neither moose, 
 bear nor wolf: nothing in short, but the diver and a 
 red pine squirrel which was too small and quick to be 
 killed by a bullet. These squirrels did not much exceed 
 in size our striped ground squirrel. About dusk the 
 lieutenant's canoe, four hundred yards before us, had 
 within view turned a sharp point of land, when we heard 
 the crack of a rifle, and presently another and a huzza. 
 Apprehending an attack from an enemy, we pulled hard 
 to be enabled to sustain our friends. In a moment or 
 two, observing them pulling for the north shore which 
 was steep, we looked up it for the enemy. Good 
 Heavens ! what a sight ! We saw a moose-deer, falling 
 on the top of the bank. A cry of exultation seemed to 
 burst the narrow valley of the river. Steele had struck 
 the deer in the flank, as it was leaving the water, but it 
 sprung up the bank with agility. Wheeler, with better 
 fortune for us all, pierced its heart as it arrived at the top. 
 Seeing this you can scarcely imagine the celerity of our 
 movements. We were ashore in a moment. A fire 
 was kindled, the secondary guide cut off the nose, and 
 upper lip of the animal, instantly, and had it on the fire. 
 What a feast ! But we were prudent. We sat up all 
 night, selecting the fat and the tit-bits — fiying, boiling, 
 roasting, and broiling, but carefully eating little at a time. 
 Towards morning, we slept a few hours, absolutely care- 
 less of consequences. We knew that we had arrived in 
 a land where game was plentiful, and where there were 
 no foes superior to our number, to oppose us. 
 
 October 12. We rose after sunrise, and began, ac- 
 cording to practice, to examine and prepare our guns. 
 Prepared, mine was placed against a tree ; my duty, in 
 course, was of the culinary kind. George Merchant, 
 my coadjutor, had gone to the river for water. He ran 
 back, seized his own gun, and intimated that a bull 
 moose was swimming across the river towards the camp. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^11 S- 43 
 
 We jumped to our arms — it so happened that my station 
 was rearward. The enormous animal was coming 
 towards us, and not more than fifty paces off, his head 
 and horns only above water. The sight was animating. 
 Wheeler and some others fired at his head, but without 
 effect. The extreme desire they had to possess so noble 
 a prey, probably caused a tremor of the hand, or that 
 part of his body was impenetrable to our small balls, 
 which is most likely. The moose turned and swam to 
 the opposite bank. Having got to the verge of the 
 river, his emerging was awaited. My ball struck pre- 
 cisely where it ought to kill. The huge animal rose 
 the bank by several boggling leaps, but seemed un- 
 knowing which way to run — we thought he would fall. 
 Wheeler, and some others, getting into the canoes, pur- 
 sued him by his blood half a mile. When Wheeler 
 returned, he overloaded me with praises for the accuracy 
 of the shot, and was confident that the deer was killed. 
 We had no time to spare. We feasted till noon, and in 
 the intermediate moments, culled the entrails for the fat ; 
 we even broke the bones, and extracted the marrow, 
 under the full persuasion that food of an oily nature is 
 one of the strongest mainstays of human life. Of this 
 principle, if we had a doubt, we were shortly after- 
 wards most irrefragably convinced. We departed from 
 our camp joyously, untortured by the fear of starving ; 
 our canoe sunk deep by the weight of our venison. 
 Running some miles and suddenly doubling a point, we 
 saw a large grey wolf sitting on his haunches ; he was 
 fired at, but the distance was too great ; he escaped. 
 Looking down the river we saw a moose swimming from 
 the main to an isla.nd ; it was soon brought down. It 
 proved to be young, of about 300 weight. Its ears and 
 flanks were much torn by the wolf. This prize consti- 
 tuted veal in our larder. The choice parts were deposited 
 in the canoes, the residue was at the disposal of the wolf. 
 October 13th, the following morning, embarking early, 
 after noon we arrived at our first encamping ground on 
 
44 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^77 S' 
 
 the Dead river, in good health and spirits ; though pallid 
 and weak, for the want of substantial food in due quantity. 
 
 By this time the fat and marrow of the animals we 
 had killed were exhausted, and our stock of salt had been 
 long since expended. One who has never been deprived 
 of bread and salt, nor known the absence of oleaginous 
 substances in his food, cannot make a true estimate of 
 the invaluable benefits of such ingredients, in the susten- 
 tation of the bodily frame ; nor of the extremity of our 
 corporeal debility. 
 
 We ascended the bank, which is steep, and about 
 fourteen feet high, carrying our baggage, arms and 
 venison, leisurely, by piecemeal. The canoes, as being 
 too heavy for our strength, were secured below, in the 
 water, by withes. It was immediately concluded to 
 preserve our provisions by jerking. This operation is 
 done by slicing the meat into thin strips. Then driving 
 four forks into the earth, in a square position, at the re- 
 quired distance perpendicularly, and laying poles from 
 fork to fork, and poles athwart from pole to pole. A 
 rack is thus tnade, about four feet high, on which the 
 sliced meat is laid, and smoke-fires are made underneath. 
 This duty was soon performed. We now began to look 
 about us, and discuss the subject of our return to the 
 army, which we had, before this time, persuaded our- 
 selves we should meet at this place. The non-appear- 
 ance of the army and our distress, induced a conclusion 
 that we were deserted, and abandoned to a disastrous 
 fate, the inevitable result of which would be, a sinking 
 into eternity for want of food, for though we might have 
 killed more deer, the vigor of our bodies was so reduced, 
 that we were convinced that that kind of food could 
 not restore us to our wonted energy, and enable us to 
 perform so rugged and long a march, as that to the 
 frontiers of Maine. The notion of navigating the river, 
 was scouted as a fallacy, because we did not possess a 
 sufficient degree of bodily force to bear the canoes across 
 the twelve-mile carrying-place. As, in the case of the 
 
Campaign against Quebec , 1775. 45 
 
 retreat of the army, we had determined to f.llovv, it be- 
 cane requisite to finish the jerking, which would take 
 six days, to make it the more portable for our feeble- 
 ness, and preservable if we should have wet weather on 
 the march. It was further concluded " That Lieut. 
 Steele, Getchel and Wheeler, should immediately pro- 
 ceed on foot across the twelve-mile carrying-place, to 
 meet the army : if they did meet it, that they should 
 return to us with supplies by the end of three days, but 
 in all events to return." Having no doubt of the honor 
 of those gentlemen, the rest of the party remained 
 cheerfully jerking the meat. Now we experienced the 
 full extent of a new species of starving. Having neither 
 bread, nor salt, nor fat of any kind, every day we re- 
 mained here, we became more and more weak and ema- 
 ciated. We had plenty of meat, both fresh and dried, 
 of which we ate four, five and six times a day, in every 
 shape we had the means of dressing it. Though we 
 gorged the stomach, the appetite was unsatiated. Some- 
 thing like a diarrhoea ensued, which contributed to the 
 imbecility of our bodies. Bear's oil would have made 
 our venison savory, but such an animal as a bear we 
 had as yet not seen in all our wanderings. On the 
 evening of the fourth day, we looked out for our absent 
 companions with much heartfelt anxiety. They came 
 not. In the morning of the next day, we consulted 
 upon the question whether we should follow the army. 
 A majority voted for staying a few days longer to com- 
 plete the jerking. To show you the great bodily weak- 
 ness we were brought to, it may be proper to relate the 
 following anecdote as more evincive of the fact, than 
 any other method which might be adopted, to bring it 
 fully to your minds. Sergeant Boyd (the strongest and 
 stoutest man of the party and perhaps of the army), and 
 myself, taking our arms, descended into a canoe, and 
 passed the river to the mouth of the creek before men- 
 tioned, intending to go to the next pond on the carrying- 
 place, there to meet, as we hoped, the advance of the 
 
46 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^IIS' 
 
 army. We staggered along through the plain, falling 
 every now and then, if our toes but touched a twig or 
 tuft of grass. Thus going forward, we arrived at the 
 edge of the moss-bog, which is mentioned as we as- 
 cended the river, and which is one and a half or two 
 miles from the pond. Here mv worthy friend Boyd, 
 unable to proceed, sunk down upon a log. My seat, in 
 tears of excruciating grief, was taken beside him, en- 
 deavoring to infuse comfort and courage into his manly 
 mind — it was in vain. The debility of his body had 
 disarmed his courageous soul. Every art in my power 
 was exercised to induce him to pass the bog ; he would 
 not listen to me on that subjeet. Melancholy of the 
 desperate kind oppressed me. Convinced that the army 
 had retreated, a prognostication resulted in my mind, 
 that we should all die of mere debility in these wilds. 
 We sat an hour. At length we agreed to return to our 
 camp, though it was yet early in the afternoon. Our 
 companions were pleased to see us, thinking our coming 
 so soon indicated good news ; but a gloom of despera- 
 tion followed. As a last effort to save our lives, we all 
 agreed to pass the river the next morning and follow the 
 army, which we were now assured had returned to 
 Fort Western. Each one put into his knapsack as much 
 of our mawkish food, as he could conveniently carry. 
 October 17. We started early, passed the river, but 
 from mere inability to carry our canoes, left them behind 
 us, at the bank of the creek. Marching forward as 
 fast as our feeble limbs would carry us, when we came 
 to the log where Boyd had seated himself, we were filled 
 with extatic joy to observe, 011 the far side of the bog, 
 a party of pioneers forming a causeway for the passage 
 of the army. Our strength redoubled — we passed the 
 bog with considerable speed. Our wan and haggard 
 faces and meagre bodies, and the monstrous beards of 
 my companions, who had neglected to carry a razor with 
 them, seemed to strike a deep sorrow into the hearts of 
 the pioneers. They gave us a little of their food, but 
 
Campaign against Quebec, 1775. 47 
 
 what exhilerated us more, was the information that 
 Major Febiger, with the advanced-guard, lay at the next 
 pond. We urged forward as fast as we could. Arriv- 
 ing at his fire a little before my company, an incapacity 
 to stand compelled me to sit. Febiger, in a hurried 
 manner, asked who we were ? and from whence we 
 came ? A few words explained the mystery and cause 
 of our distress. A glistening tear stood in this brave 
 soldier's eye. As it were with a sudden and involuntary 
 motion and much tenderness, he handed me his wooden 
 canteen {which contained the last spirits in the army), 
 from me it passed to Cunningham, who had just come 
 up, the most ghastly and way-worn figure in nature, 
 from him it went round to the rest, who arrived grad- 
 ually, but slowly.' The heart of Febiger ' seemed over- 
 joyed at the relief he had and could afford us. The 
 liquor had restored our fainting spirits, but this was not 
 enough for his generosity to exhibit. He requested us 
 to take seats around the fire, and wait the boiling of his 
 kettle, which was well replenished with pork and dump- 
 lings. This was all devoted to our use, accompanied by 
 an open heartedness and the kindest expressions of interest 
 for our sufferings, and regard for our perseverance in 
 our duty as military men. This meal to all of us seemed 
 a renewal of life. It was accustomed food. Febiger, 
 ere this time, was unknown to us, but in the process of 
 events, he acquired our esteem and entire confidence, 
 as a friend and a real soldier. Our more immediate and 
 intimate friends were still beyond the pond, but coming 
 
 ' Christian Febiger, colonel in the Revolutionary army, born Denmark, 
 17475 died, Phila. Sept. 20, 1796. He had seen service before en- 
 listing April 28, 1775, and at Bunker's Hill led a portion of Gerrlsh's 
 regiment, of which he was adjutant, to the scene of battle in season to do 
 good service. He served with rrarked ability throughout the war; ac- 
 companied Arnold to Quebec, and was made prisoner in the attack on that 
 citadel ; was conspicuous at the capture of Stony Point, where he led a 
 column of attack, and at Yorktown, where he commanded the 2d Va. 
 regiment. From 1789 until his death, he was treasurer of Pensylvania. — 
 Drake I Biographical Dictionary^ 3* 9- 
 
48 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 forward. By-and-by Morgan came, large, a command- 
 ing aspect, and stentorian voice. He wore leggings, and 
 a cloth in the Indian style. His thighs, which were 
 exposed to view, appeared to have been lacerated by the 
 thorns and bushes. He knew our story from Steele and 
 Wheeler, and greeted us kindly. V\ e now found our- 
 selves at home, in the bosom of a society of brave men, 
 with whom we were not only willing, but anxious to 
 meet the brunts of war. This was the twenty-sixth day 
 we had been absent from the army. In the evening we 
 resumed our stations in our respective messes. It was 
 now fully explained to us, why Steele had not brought 
 us relief. He had met the advance of the army on the 
 Kennebec side of the carrying-place. Always alert aiid 
 indefatigable, when any duty was to be done, the 
 labors of the men in carrying boats, barrels of flour, 
 etc., were intolerable, and required the strength and 
 athletic exertions of the officers, and particularly, such 
 as Lieut. Steele, to enliven them in their duty. In bear- 
 ing a heavy burden over rugged ground, he fell and 
 sprained or dislocated his shoulder. ^ Notwithstanding 
 this accident, he had sent us supplies, but the bearers, 
 either from cowardice or other cause, never came near 
 us. Getchel and Wheeler had other duties to attend 
 to — they were under immediate command. We also 
 discovered from Steele, that Clifton and M'Konkey, 
 soon after we left them, had deserted their post, carry- 
 •ing all they could on their backs, to meet the army. 
 The dastardly vices of the latter, prevailing over the 
 known courage, good sense, and sedate age, oi the 
 former : nothing occurs to me contributory to the fame 
 of these men atteiwards. The first was an invalid, the 
 latter a caitiff coward. In vour scanning the characters 
 of men, which you will be compelled to do in 
 your own defence, in the course of your lives, it 
 will be a good general rule for you to adopt : that 
 whether you be in the company of military men, scholars, 
 men of the law, legislators, etc., etc., in short, persons 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^Tl S- 49 
 
 of any profession or class, if you find a person very 
 loquacious, dragging the conversation to himself, and in 
 a dictatorial way talcing the lead ; but more especially if 
 he talks of his own prowess, deep reading, causes he has 
 gained, eloquence, etc., etc., but still more so if the party 
 boasts of wealth or ancestry : in the first instance, with- 
 out hesitation, set such a person down in your memory 
 as a braggadocio, a mere puffer, until you can inquire 
 further for a proof to the contrary. There are, to my 
 knowledge, exceptions to this general rule, but few in 
 number, particularly in the military class. M'Konkey 
 was of the puffing sect, and there never was a more 
 consummate scoundrel and coward. 
 
 October i8th. Now we turned our faces towards 
 the north. Having rejoined our messmates, enjoying 
 substantial food and warm tents, we soon recruited a 
 good degree of strength, and our former gayety of temper 
 and hilarity returned to us. We accompanied the army, 
 and became a kind of guides in minute matters, for the 
 paths and carrying places we had sufficiently developed, 
 for Captain Ayres and his pioneers, by strong blazing 
 and snagging of bushes, so that he might proceed in per- 
 fect security, in the performance of the duties of his 
 office. The three companies of riflemen under Morgan 
 took up our old encamping ground'on the Dead river, 
 during the afternoon of the following day.' 
 
 ' The place on the Kennebec where the carry commenced is now 
 definitely known to lumbermen and inhabitants of that region ; indeed 
 the route to the ponds, and between them and the Dead river is distinctly 
 marked by a growth of evergreens passing through a growth of hard wood 
 growth, they having taken the place of the original wood cut by the army 
 to facilitate the crossing. It is said that some of the bateaux which were 
 abandoned at the ponds, and sunk there, are occasionally found on the bot- 
 tom. — Letter from Hon. Jame% W. North. 
 
 During the survey of the north-eastern boundary in 1844, one of the 
 engineers traversing the swampy highland observed a hollow sound where 
 he struck down his Jacob staff, he discovered on scraping away the moss 
 an entire bateau, composed of sawed wood which was not indigenous to the 
 locality, that rendered it more than probable that it was one of Arnold's 
 bateaux. — Later of Mr. yobn F. Anderson. — M. 
 
 5 
 
50 Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. 
 
 October 19th and 20th. Here we lay encamped for 
 several days, waiting the arrival of the rear ot the New 
 England troops : they came up hourly. During our 
 stay here, it pleased me internally, to observe that Mor- 
 gan adopted certain rules of discipline, absolutely neces- 
 sary to the state we were in, but discordant with the 
 wild and extravagant notions of our private men.^ 
 Powder and ball, particularly the first, to us riflemen, 
 was of the first consequence. At Cambiidge the horns 
 belonging to the men were filled with an excellent rifle 
 powder, which, when expended, could not be replaced 
 in Canada by any powder of an equal quality. The men 
 
 ' Morgan was a strict disciplinarian. Permit an anecdote. He had 
 obtained the command ot the rifle corps from Arnold, without any 
 advertence to the better claim of Hendiicks, who, though the youngest 
 man was of the three captains, in point of rank, by the dates of commis- 
 sions, the superior officer. Hendricks, for the sake of peace in the army, 
 and of good order, prudently and good naturedly acquiesced in his assump- 
 tion of the command, for Morgan had seen more service in our former wars. 
 
 At this place Morgan had given it out in orders, that no one should fire. 
 One Chamberlaine, a worthless fellow, who did not think it worth while 
 to draw his bullet, had gone soipe hundreds of yards into the woods, and 
 discharged his gun. Lieut. Steele happened to be in that quarter at the 
 time ; Steele had but arrived at the fire, where we sat, when Morgan, 
 who had seen him coming, approached our camp, and seated himself within 
 our circle. Presently Chamberlaine came, gun in hand, and was passing 
 our fire, towards that of his mess. Morgan called to the soldier, accused 
 him as the defaulter^ this the man (an arrant liar ) denied. Morgan 
 appealed to Steele. Steele admitted he heard the report, but knew not the 
 party who discharged the gun. Morgan suddenly springing to a pile of 
 billets, took one, and swore he would knock the accused down unless he 
 confessed the fact. Instantly, Smith seized another billet, and swore he 
 would strike Morgan if he struck the man. Morgan knowing the tenure 
 of his rank, receded. This was the only spirited act 1 knew of Smith. 
 Such were the rough-hewn characters which, in a few subsequent years, by 
 energy of mind and activity of body, bore us safely through the dreadlul 
 storms of the revolution. Morgan was of an impetuous temper, yet withal, 
 prudent in war, as he was fearless of personal danger. His passions 
 were quick and easily excited, but they were soon cooled. This observa- 
 tion is applicable to many men of great talents, and to none more than 
 Morgan. His severity, at times, has made me shudder, though it was 
 necessary, yet it would have been a pleasing trait in his character if it had 
 been less rigid. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^71 S' 5^ 
 
 had got into a habit of throwing it away at every trifling 
 object. Upon our return from the Chaudiere, this cir- 
 cumstance raised disgust in us ; for we had been studi- 
 ously careful of our ammunition, never firing but at 
 some object which would give us the means of subsist- 
 ence. Though we drew our loads every morning, from 
 a fear of the dampness of the atmosphere, yet the ball 
 and powder were never lost. Our bullet screws brought 
 the first out with ease, and it was recast, the latter was 
 carefully returned to the horn, where, if moist, it soon 
 became dry. The principal of Morgan's rules were, 
 that there should be no straggling from the camp; and 
 no firing without authoritative permission. Reasonable 
 as these injunctions were, they were opposed. Being 
 young and my friend Steele absent, a whisper of appro- 
 bation did not fall from me, which, in my subordinate 
 station, might have been indelicate. It was left to the 
 energy of Morgan's mind, and he conquered. During 
 our resting here, Arnold, accompanied by Steele and 
 some excellent boatmen, proceeded to the head of the 
 river. The rifle corps preceded the main body of the 
 army, both by land and water. The boats, which were 
 heavily laden with baggage and provisions, took in no 
 more men than were necessary to navigate them, that is, 
 three to a boat. The remainder of the army marched 
 by land, the river being generally the guide. 
 
 Here, my dear children, permit me to give you the 
 genuine character of my friend. General Simpson, whom 
 you all know personally. He was among my earliest 
 and best friends. He was then as apparently eccentric, 
 as he is at this time : there is no obvious difference in 
 his manners between the two periods. As an officer, 
 he was always active and keen in the performance of 
 his duty. Hard was the service ; but his heart was soft 
 to his friend. Simpson invited his messmate aboard his 
 boat, being still somewhat feeble from our late privations : 
 the invitation was gladly accepted. 
 
 October 2ist. We embarked. Having Lieut. 
 
52 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 Simpson for a steersman, and John Tidd and James 
 Dougherty as boatmen, we went gaily on for that and 
 the next day : able to lead any boat in the river. 
 
 October 22d. On the evening of this second day, 
 we encamped on a bank eight or nine feet high, at a 
 place where we had rested when ascending the river the 
 first time. In the evening a most heavy torrent of rain 
 fell upon us, which continued all night. Having now a 
 good tent over our heads, the inconvenience was not much 
 felt. We slept soundly. Towards morning, we were 
 awaked by the water which flowed in upon us from the 
 river. We fled to high ground. 
 
 October 23, When morning came the river pre- 
 sented a most frightful aspect : it had risen at least eight 
 feet, and flowed with terrifying rapidity. None but the 
 most strong and active boatmen entered the boats, the 
 army marched on the south side of the river, making 
 large circuits to avoid the overflowings of the intervale 
 or bottom lands. This was one of the most fatiguing 
 marches we had as yet performed, though the distance 
 was not great in a direct line. But having no path and 
 being necessitated to climb the steepest hills, and that 
 without food, for we took none with us, thinking the 
 boats would be near us all day. In the evening we 
 arrived at the fall of four feet, which was mentioned 
 when ascending the river. Alas ! all the boats of the 
 army were on the opposite side of the river. The pitch 
 of the fall made a dreadful noise, and the current ran with 
 immense velocity. We sat down on the bank sorely 
 pinched by hunger, looking wistfully towards our friends 
 beyond the torrent, who were in possession of all the 
 provisions, tents and camp equipage, convinced however, 
 that the most adventurous boatmen would not dare the 
 passage, for the sake of accommodating any of us. We 
 were mistaken. There were two men, and only two, 
 who had skill and courage to dare it. Need Lieut. 
 Simpson, on an occasion like this, be named 1 he, ac- 
 companied by John Tidd, entered his empty boat. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ i775» S3 
 
 What skill in boatmanship ! what aptitude with the 
 paddle was here exhibited. The principal body of the 
 water ran over the middle of the fall, and created a 
 foaming and impetuous torrent, in some measure resem- 
 bling, at this particular time, of a very high freshet, that 
 of the Oswego falls, which has been known to me ere 
 this. The river was about one hundred and fifty, or two 
 hundred yards in breadth, counting on the increase of 
 water by the rains. The force of the central current 
 naturally formed considerable eddies at each side of the 
 river, close under the pitch. Simpson now disclosed his 
 amazing skill. Though there was an eddy, even that 
 was frightful, he came by its mean nearly under the 
 pitch, and trying to obtain an exact start, failed. The 
 stream forced his boat down the river, but he recovered 
 and brought it up. Now we, who were trembling for 
 the fate of our friends, and anxious for our own accom- 
 modation, began to fear he might be drawn under the 
 pitch. Quick, almost in a moment, Simpson was with 
 us. He called in his loud voice to Robert Dixon, James 
 Old ( a messmate ) and myself to enter the boat. We 
 entered immediately. He pushed ofF; attempting the 
 start by favor of the hither eddy, which was the main 
 thing — we failed. Returning to the shore, we were as- 
 sailed by a numerous band of soldiers, hungry, and 
 anxious to be with their companions. Simpson told 
 them he could not carry more with safety, and would 
 return for them. Henry M'Annaly, a tall Irishman, 
 who could not from experience comprehend the danger, 
 jumped into the boat ; he was followed by three or four 
 other inconsiderate men. The countenance of Simpson 
 changed, his soul and mine were intimate. "O God," 
 said he, "men we shall all die." They would not 
 recede. Again we approached the pitch ; it was horrible. 
 The bateau swam deep, almost ungovernable by the 
 paddle. Attempting again to essay the departure — we 
 failed. The third trial was made : it succeeded. As 
 lightning we darted athwart the river. Simpson with his 
 
54 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 paddle, governed the stern. The worthy Tidd in the 
 bow. Dixon and myself, our guns stuck in the railing 
 of the bateau, but without paddles, sat in the stern next 
 to Simpson. Mr. Old was in the bow near Tidd. 
 Henry M'Annaly was adjoining Mr. Old. The other 
 men sat between the stern and bow. Simpson called to 
 the men in the bow to lay hold of the birch bushes ; 
 the boat struck the shore forcibly : they caught hold 
 M'Annaly in particular (this was in the tail of the eddy ), 
 but like children, their holds slipped, at the only spot 
 where we could have been saved ; for the boat had been 
 judiciously and sately brought up. Letting go their 
 holds, the bow came round to the stream, and the stern 
 struck the shore. Simpson, Dixon, and myself, now 
 caught the bushes, but being by this time thrown into the 
 current, the strength of the water made the withes as so 
 many straws in our hands. The stern again swung 
 round: the bow came again ashore. Mr. Old, Tidd, 
 and M'Annaly, and the rest, sprung to the land to save 
 their lives. Doing this, at our cost, their heels forced 
 the boat across the current. Though we attempted to 
 steady it, the boat swagged. In a moment after, at 
 thirty feet ofF shore, it being broad side to the current, 
 turned ; borne under, in spite of all our force, by the 
 fury of the stream. The boat upsetting, an expression, 
 as going into the water, fell from me, " Simpson we 
 are going to heaven." My fall was head -foremost. 
 Simpson came after me — his heels, at the depth of fifteen 
 feet or more, were upon my head and neck ; and those 
 grinding on the gravel. We rose nearly together, vour 
 father first — my friend followed. The art of swimming, 
 in which, I thought myself an adept, was tried, but it 
 was a topsy-turvy business. The force of the water 
 threw me often heels-over-head. 
 
 In the course of this voyage, after a few hundred 
 yards, Simpson was at my side, but the force of the 
 stream prevented the exertion of swimming ; yet the 
 impetuosity of the current kept us up. It drove us 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^775- 5S 
 
 toward the other side of the river, against a long ridge 
 of perpendicular rocks of great extent. Luckilv, in the 
 course of some hundred yards, the current changed, and 
 brought us perforce to the north side of the river. Float- 
 ing along with my head just above water — prayers in 
 sincere penitence having been uttered, a boat's crew of 
 the eastern men handed me a pole. It was griped as by 
 the hand of death — but griped the pole remained to me. 
 The strength of water was such, that the boat would 
 inevitably have upset, if the boatman had kept his hold. 
 A glance of the eye informed me that my companion 
 in misfortune had shared the same fate. Resigned into 
 the bosom of my Savior, my eyes became closed ; the 
 death appeared to me a hard one ; sensibility in a great 
 degree forsook me. Driving with the current some 
 hundreds of yards more, the most palpable feeling recol- 
 lected, was the striking of my breast against a root or 
 hard substance. Alv head came above water. Breathing 
 ensued ; at the same moment Simpson raised his head 
 out of the water, his gold laced hat on it, crying " Oh ' " 
 neither of us could have crept out ; we should have there 
 died but for the assistance of Edward Cavanaugh, an 
 Irishman, an excellent soldier, who was designated in 
 the company by the appellation of Honest Ned. Passing 
 from the lower part of the river, he happened to come 
 to the eddy, at the instant of time my breast struck. He 
 cried out " Lord, Johnny ! is this you .'"' and instantly 
 dragged me out of the water. Simpson immediately 
 appearing, he did him the same good office. Lying on 
 the earth perhaps twenty minutes, the water pouring 
 from me, a messenger from the camp came to rouse us. 
 Roused we went to it. But all eyes looked out for 
 Dixon, all hearts were wailing for his loss. It was 
 known he could not swim, but none of us could recollect 
 whether he had dropped into the water or had adhered 
 to the boat. In some time we had the inexpressible 
 pleasure of Dixon in our company. He had stuck to 
 the side of the boat, which lodged on a vast pile of drift 
 
56 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775' 
 
 wood some miles below, and in this way he was saved. 
 Arriving at the camp our friends had a large fire prepared, 
 particularly for our accommodation ; heat upon such an 
 occurrence is most agreeable. My two friends in dis- 
 tress, whose clothing was principally woolen — felt none 
 of my private disaster. My leather breeches attached 
 closely and coldly to the skin. Modesty prohibited a 
 disclosure. The sense of pain or inconvenience which 
 was observed by my seniors, caused an inquiry. Imme- 
 diately the breeches were off and stuck upon a pole to 
 dry. Simpson was so much exhilerated by our escape, 
 that seated on a stump, he sung P/ato in great glee. It 
 became a favorite with us. During all this time, perhaps 
 till one or two o'clock, my breeches were in my hand 
 almost in continued friction. The laugh of the company 
 was against me, but it was borne stoically. 
 
 October 24, the following morning, presented me with 
 many difficulties ; to be sure my horn, with a pound of 
 powder, and my pouch, with seventy bullets, were un- 
 harmed by the water, though around my neck in the 
 course of our swimming. Yet I had lost my knapsack, 
 my hat, and my most precious rifle. Awaking, the 
 world appeared to be a wild waste. Disarmed, my insig- 
 nificance pressed strongly on my mind — dishonor seemed 
 to follow of course. Without the armor of defence^ men 
 and nations are mere automatons, liable to be swayed by 
 the beck of power and subject to the hand of oppression. 
 Young as your father was, his soul was oppressed. To 
 return with the invalids was dreadful, and without arms, 
 he could not proceed. Comfort came to me in the shape 
 of Lieutenant, now General Nichols, then of Hendricks. 
 He had two hats — he presented me one ; but what was 
 more to my purpose, he, or General Simpson, informed 
 me that some of the invalids wished to dispose of their 
 rifles. With the assistance of Nichols and Simpson, a 
 bargain was struck with a person called William Rey- 
 nolds, or Rannals, of our company ; who was miserably 
 sick, and returned in the boats. Money was out of the 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, i-jj^. ^y 
 
 question, an order upon my father, dated at this place, 
 tor the price of twelve dollars was accepted, and after- 
 wards in due time, paid honorably. This gun was short, 
 about forty-five balls to the pound, the stock shattered 
 greatly, and worth about forty shillings. Necessity has 
 no law. Never did a gun, ill as its appearance was, shoot 
 with greater certainty, and where the ball touched, from 
 Its size, It was sure to kill. .This observation, triflina as 
 It may seem, ought to induce government to adopt guns 
 of this size, as to length of barrel, and size of ball. 
 
 1 here are many reasons to enforce this opinion. We 
 departed from this place without any material occurrence 
 and went rapidly forward. ' 
 
 October 27th. Somewhat laughable ensued on this 
 morning near the first pond, at the head of the river. 
 
 1 he Virginians (though it is not probable that any of 
 the officers excepting one) had taken up the idea, that 
 they were our superiors in every military qualification, 
 and ought to lead. Hendricks, though the oldest com- 
 missioned officer of the rifle companies, was still the 
 youngest man. For the sake of peace and good order, 
 he had not assented to, but merely acquiesced in Morgan's 
 assumption of the command of our corps, as the elder 
 person. Those men, who were clever and brave, were 
 just such m that behalf, as we were ourselves : but a 
 Mr. Heath, who was blind of an eye, a lieutenant of 
 Morgan s, seemed to think, that all others were in- 
 ferior to those of the ancient dominion. We had a hard 
 morning's pushing, when coming up to the first pond, 
 at the head of the Dead-river, we saw Heath before us. 
 Observing to Simpson, ^' push him," we went up with 
 much force ; poor Heath laboring as a slave to keep 
 his place. Tidd and Dougherty felt my spirit as much 
 as bimpson did. At the moment of our passing, for we 
 went up on the outside of him, towards the middle of 
 the current, his pole stuck, upon which he gave us a 
 tew hearty curses. Entering the lake, the boat under 
 my guidance and information, steered directly for the 
 
58 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 passage to the second lake. Humphreys (Morgan's first 
 lieutenant) a brave and most amiable man, whom we 
 highly esteemed, was in a boat far to the left, searching 
 for a passage. Simpson, at my instance, hailed him to 
 come on. He answered there was no passage there^ al- 
 luding to the place we steered for. Encouraging my 
 friend to go on, the deception Humphreys lay under was 
 soon discovered. The creek was soon discovered. 
 The creek was deep and serpentine, and the country 
 around, for a considerable distance, a flat. A log 
 brought down by the last freshet, lay across the stream, 
 so as to give to a stranger the idea that the mouth of 
 the creek was merely a nook of the lake. Setting the 
 log afloat, as was easily done, the boat proceeded. 
 
 October 28. Continuing rapidly, for now we had no 
 carrying, nor marking of trees, there being plenty of 
 water, the evening was spent at the foot of that mountain 
 called the Height-of-land.' This was a day of severe 
 labor. The navigation of the Chaudiere, being, so far 
 as our information went, represented to the captains, 
 Hendricks and Smith, as very dangerous, they, to save 
 their men, concluded to carry over the hill, but one 
 boat for each of their companies. This resolution was 
 easily accomplished. Morgan, on the other hand, de- 
 termined to carry over all his boats. It would have made 
 your heart ache, to view the intolerable labors his fine 
 fellows underwent. Some of them, it was said, had the 
 flesh worn from their shoulders, even to the bone. The 
 men said it ; but by this time an antipathy against 
 Morgan, as too strict a disciplinarian had arisen. 
 
 October 29th. The following day, the army, dis- 
 jointed as was our corps, at least Hendricks's and Smith's, 
 encamped on the plain, on the bank of the Chaudiere. 
 
 ' The Hon. Miles Standish lives on what is termed the Flag Staff 
 Plantation, at the foot of Mount Bigelow, on Arnold's route, the mountain 
 on which Maj. Timothy Bigelow planted a flag staff, which gave name to 
 the mountain and ^\icc.— Letter from Hon. James W. North.— M. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 59 
 
 Morgan afterwards took his station near us. Here it 
 first became generally known, that Enos had returned 
 from the twelve mile carrying-place, with 500 men, a 
 large stock of provisions, and the medicine chest.' It 
 
 ' The desertion of Enos was known by a portion of the army as early as 
 the 23d. He made an ingenious defence of his retreat, and at the trial the 
 witnesses being his own officers, who were all in favor of returning, he was 
 acquitted, but never survived the stigma of having done a disreputable 
 act. — M. 
 
 Head-guarters, Cambridge, November 30, 1775. 
 
 A General Court Martial to sit to-morrow morning, at eleven o'clock, 
 at Mr. Pomeroy's, in Cambridge, to try Lieutenant-Colonel Enos, for 
 " quitting his commanding-officer without leave." President, Brigadier- 
 General Sullivan, with the twelve field-officers next for court-martial duty. 
 
 COLONEL ROGER ENOS TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 I esteem it the duty of every man not only to merit a good name, but to 
 appear in defence of it when unjustly attacked, and, if possible, to clear it 
 from groundless aspersions. Great numbers, for want of proper informa- 
 tion, or by artful misrepresentations, imbibe unreasonable prejudices against 
 their fellow men, and form conceptions greatly to their disadvantage, who, 
 on a full and impartial knowledge of the facts, will essentially alter their 
 opinions, and applaud those actions which, from misrepresentation, they 
 were inclined to censure and condemn. As my character, both as an 
 officer and soldier, hath of late suffered much in the view of many, and as 
 I value my reputation as high as my life (indeed, I consider it as the 
 greatest curse that can befall a man to outlive his character), I must beg 
 leave, through the channel oi the press, to exhibit to the world the follow- 
 ing representation of my case j which I trust will sufficiently clear up my 
 character, and convince the impartial, that my conduct, instead of the cen- 
 sure, merits the approbation of the public. 
 
 At a Court of Inquiry held at Cambridge, on Wednesday, the 29th day 
 of November, 1775, by order of his excellency the commander-in-chief 
 of the forces of the United Colonies, to examine into the conduct of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Enos, for leaving the detachment under Colonel Arnold and 
 returning home, without permission from his commanding officer, present : 
 
 Major-General Lee, president ; Brig. General Greene, Brig. General 
 Heath, Colonel Nixon, Colonel Stark, Major Durkee, Major Sherburne. 
 
 The court are of opinion, after receiving all the information within their 
 power, that Colonel Enos's misconduct (if he has been guilty of misconduct) is 
 not of so very heinous a nature as was first supposed, but that it is necessary, 
 for the satisfaction of the world, and for his own honor, that a court-martial 
 should be immediately held for his trial. 
 
 Charles Lee, Maj. General, President. 
 
 A true copy, from the minutes of said court, compared and examined by 
 
 W. Tudor, Judge Ad-vocate. 
 
6o Campaign against ^uebec^i^^ c^. 
 
 damped our spirits much, but our commander conceived 
 it was better to proceed than return. We were about 
 a hundred miles from the frontier of Canada, but treble 
 that distance from that of New-England. Our provisions 
 
 Proceedings of a general court-martial of the line held at head-quarters at 
 Cambridge, by order of hi % Excellency George Washington, Esq., Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Forces of the United Colonies, December i, A.D. 
 
 Brigadier General Sullivan, president ; Colonel Bridge, Colonel Sergeant, 
 Colonel Greaton, Lieutenant-Colonel Cleveland, Lieutenant-Colonel Marsh, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Reed, Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Vose, Major Poor, Major Wood, Major Woods, Major Johnson ; W. 
 Tudor, judge advocate. 
 
 The court, being duly sworn, proceeded to the trial of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Enos, of the Twenty-Second Regiment, under an arrest for leaving the de- 
 tachment under Colonel Arnold, and returning home, without permission 
 from his commanding officer. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Enos, being arraigned on the above charge, says, that 
 true it is, he did return without permission from Colonel Arnold, his com- 
 manding officer; but the circumstances of the case were such as obliged 
 him so to do. 
 
 Captain Williams. At the great carrying-place, I heard that the men 
 ahead were in want of provision. About two-thirds across the great 
 carrying-place, I met Major Bigelow coming back with ninety-fiv6 men, 
 who said they wanted provision ; I dealt out to them a barrel of pork and 
 one of flour ; I delivered Major Bigelow six barrels more of provision. We 
 proceeded forward, and met several parties returning home, and we had 
 orders to supply them with provision to reach the English settlements. 
 When I came up with Colonel Enos, I was informed by Major Bigelow 
 fthere had been a council of war, and that it was settled that, for want of 
 [provisions, the whole detachment under Colonel Enos should return. Col- 
 I onel Enos proposed to go forward, and let his division return; but as there 
 I was a large number, besides those which belonged properly to our division, 
 and as we had several invalids to bring back, and were very short of provi- 
 I sion (for we had but three days' provision, and were above one hundred 
 miles from the English settlements), I thought it was absolutely necessary 
 for Colonel Enos to take the command of the party back, and protested 
 against his going on to join Colonel Arnold ; at the same time, not know- 
 ing that Colonel Enos had any orders from Colonel Arnold to join him. 
 That division which went on to join Colonel Arnold had not more than 
 five days' provision. We supplied Colonel Greene's divisiun with most of 
 "tlTeir provision, and left ourselves but three days' provision. 
 
 Captain McCobb. About fifty miles up the Dead river we held a council 
 of war, at which I assisted as a member; and it was agreed that the whole 
 division under Col. Enos should return, there not being sufficient provision 
 to carry both divisions through. Colonel Greene's division being some 
 way ahead, it was found that we should save two days' time by letting that 
 
Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. ^^ 
 
 were exhausted. We had no meat of any kind. The 
 flour which remained, so far as I know, was divided 
 fairly and equally, among the whole of the troops, the 
 rifiemen shared five pints of fiour per man. During the 
 
 division go forward, and time was too precious and provision too scarce to 
 enter into disputes. It was thought best for the service, that Colonel 
 Greene's division should proceed, and we left them with about five days' I 
 provision, and returned with three ourselves. Lieutenant-Colonel Enos I 
 was for going forward without his division j but, for the same reasons which 
 have been mentioned by Captain Williams, I protested against his going on. I 
 
 Captain Scott confirms all that Captain McCobb deposes, and adds, that 
 he himself protested against Colonel Enos's going forward j that he thought,- < 
 and is now confirmed in the opinion, that the presence of Colonel Enos 
 was very necessary to preserve the harmony and order necessary to 
 secure the safe retreat of the men who were ordered to return. 
 
 Lieutenant Hide. I assisted at the council of war up the Dead river. 
 We found, by the best computation, that it would take fifteen days to reach 
 any French inhabitants, and that it would be impossible for both divisions 
 of Greene's and Enos's to go through, the provision being so short. It was 
 adjudged that there was about four days' provision for those who went for- 
 ward, and we returned with three. I protested against Colonel Enos's going 
 on to join Colonel Arnold, his presence being necessary for our safe retreat, 
 as we had a number of invalids, and a considerable number of men who did 
 not belong to either of the companies in our division. 
 
 Lieutenant Buckmaster confirms what Lieutenant Hide deposes; and 
 adds, that it was the opinion of all the officers of Colonel Enos's division, : 
 that he should return with his division, as we had one hundred and fifty 
 men who did not belong to our division, who had only a subaltern to com- 
 mand them, and whom it would have been impossible to manage without i 
 Colonel Enos's presence. 
 
 The court being cleared, after mature consideration, are unanimously of 
 opinion, that Colonel Enos was under a necessity of returning with the 
 division under his command, and therefore acquit him with honor. 
 
 John Sullivan, President. 
 
 A true copy of the proceedings. 
 
 Attest : W. Tudor, 'Judge Ad-vocate. 
 
 New-York, April 28, 1776. 
 I hereby certify that I was president of a court-martial, in Cambridge, 
 when Colonel Enos was t'-ied for leaving Colonel Arnold with the rear 
 division of the detachment under his command, bound for Quebec ; and, 
 upon the trial, it clearly appeared to me, as well as to all the other mem- 
 bers of the court, that Colonel Enos was perfectly justifiable in returning 
 with the division, being clearly proved, by the testimony of witnesses of 
 undoubted veracity (some of whom I have been personally acquainted with 
 for a number of years, and know them to be persons of truth), that so | 
 much provision had been sent forward, to support the other divisions, as | 
 
 6 
 
62 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 night and the ensuing morning, the flour was baked into 
 five cakes per man, under the ashes, in the way of Indian 
 bread. 
 
 October 30th. We set forward. The men were 
 told by the officers " that orders would " not be required 
 in the march, each one must " put the best foot foremost." 
 The first day's march was closed by a charming sleep on 
 fir-branches. The gentlemen of our mess lay together, 
 covering themselves with the blankets of each one. My 
 memory does not serve, to say, that any stir was made 
 by any one, during the night. Happening to be the first 
 
 left them so small a quantity that tlieir men were almost famished with 
 hunger on their return ; and some would undoubtedly have starved, had 
 they not, by accident, come across and killed a large moose. Upon their 
 evidence, there remained no doubt in the mind of myself, or any of the 
 members, that the return of the division was prudent and reasonable; being 
 well convinced that they had not provision sufficient to carry them half 
 way to Quebec, and that their going forward would only have deprived 
 the other division of a part of theirs, which, as the event has since shown, 
 was not enough to keep them all from perishing ; we therefore unani- 
 mously acquitted Colonel Enos with honor. 
 
 I further certify, that by a strict inquiry into the matter since, from per- 
 sons who were in the divisions that went forward, I am convinced that had 
 Colonel Enos, with his division, proceeded, it would have been a means of 
 causing the whole detachment to have perished in the woods, for want of 
 sustenance. 
 
 I further add, that I have been well informed, by person acquainted 
 with Colonel Enos, that he has ever conducted as a good and faithful officer. 
 
 John Sullivan. 
 
 to the impartial public. 
 The case of Lieutenant-Colonel Enos having engaged the attention of 
 many officers of the army, as well as others, and as we are informed he is 
 much censured by many persons, tor returning back from the expedition to 
 Canada, under the command of Colonel Arnold, by which Colonal Enos's 
 character greatly suffers, we think it our duty to certify, that some of us, 
 from our own personal knowledge of the military abilities of Colonel Enos, 
 and others of us from information, are fully convinced that he is a gentle- 
 man fully acquainted with his duty as an officer, a man of fortitude and 
 prudence, and, in our opinion, well calculated to sustain, with honor, any 
 military character ; and, from the fullest inquiry, we are satisfied that 
 (whatsoever different representations may be made) in returning to camp, 
 with the division under his command, he is justifiable, and conducted as an 
 understanding, prudent, faithful officer, and deserves applause rather than 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 63 
 
 who awaked, in the morning, the blanket was suddenly 
 thrown from my head, but what was my surprise to find 
 that we had lain under a cover of at least four inches of 
 snow. We scarcely had risen and had our kettle on the 
 fire, when our drummer (we had no bugles), John 
 ShaefFer, came slipshod to our fire, complaining that all 
 his cakes had been stolen from him. A more wretched 
 figure was scarcely ever beheld. He was purblind. This 
 circumstance, though he was my townsman, and ac- 
 quainted with me from my earliest infancy, was yet 
 unknown to me until this last march, ascending the 
 
 censure ; and we can safely recommend him as a person worthy to be em- 
 ployed in any military department. 
 
 William Heath, Brig. -Gen. 
 
 James Reed, Colonel. 
 
 J. Brewer, Colonel. 
 ii,J Samuel H. Parsons, Colonel. 
 
 Joseph Reed, Colonel. 
 
 Jonathan Ni.xon, Colonel. 
 
 Charles Webb, Colonel. 
 
 Daniel Hitchcock, Colonel. 
 <Ci' John Stark, Colonel. 
 
 Levi Wells, Major. 
 
 Samuel Wyllys, Colonel. 
 
 William Shepard, Lieut. -Col. 
 
 Andrew Colburn, Major. 
 
 Joel Clark, Lieut. -Col. 
 Ebenezer Sprout, Major. 
 Ebenezer Clap, Lieut. -Col. 
 Samuel Prentice, Major. 
 Calvin Smith, Major. 
 JosiAH Hayden, Major. 
 John Baily, Colonel. 
 John Tyler, Lieut. -Col. 
 Thomas Nixon, Lieut. -Col. 
 Loammi B.^ldwin, Colonel. 
 James Wesson, Lieut. -Col. 
 Isaac Sherman, Major. 
 
 Now, let Dr. Smith, of Philadelphia, display the malignity of his heart 
 in another funeral oration, in attempting to stab my reputat'on, and render 
 me infamous in the view of the world. However, I will venture to assert, 
 that if ill-nature, and a fondness to raise his reputation on the ruin of his 
 fellow-men, are as discernible in his other political writings as in this oration, 
 so far as it respects my character, he is one of the most dangerous writers, 
 and, perhaps, the most consummate villain, that walks on the face of God's 
 earth. Ignorance of my real character, and of the grounds and reasons of 
 my conduct in returning from the expedition to Canada, was no warrant 
 for such indecent freedom as he has used in his malicious, though feeble 
 attempt to ruin my reputation. He ought to have waited till a true and 
 impartial history of the facts had enabled him to talk on the subject with 
 propriety, and not have uttered things at random ; and, for the sake of 
 furnishing matter for declamation, have undertook, with such violence, to 
 blacken the character of an innocent man. Roger Enos. 
 
 New London, May 31, 1776. 
 
64 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 Dead river, commenced. My station in the line of 
 march, which was in the single file (or Indian, as it was 
 then called), was next to the captain ; the drummer 
 followed. Here it was his defect ot sight was most 
 effectually shown. Smith was lithsome and quick afoot, 
 as we all were, except poor ShaefFer. In the course of 
 this toilsome march, without a path, many deep ravines 
 presented, over these lay many logs, fallen perhaps many 
 years before. The captain took the log, preferring it to 
 a descent of twenty or thirty feet into the gulf below, 
 which at times was quite abrupt. Following me, ShaefFer 
 would frequently, drum and all, tumble headlong into the 
 abyss. His misfortunes in this Way, for he was a laugh- 
 ing stock, excited contempt in the soldiers, but in me 
 compassion.' Often, he required my aid. On this 
 
 ' I cannot exactly recollect the time, but the records of government will 
 show, that this miserable man was indicted of" a burglary and convicted. 
 His respectable brother, Mr. Jacob Shaefter of Lancaster (Penn.), applied 
 to me to certify in his favor [it was in 1780 or 1781] to the president 
 and council, who had the power of pardon. The representation was, in 
 substance similar to the present. This part of our transactions rests in my 
 memory; but the impression is so strong, that I cannot forget it. It gave 
 me great pleasure to imagine, that probably I might again contribute to 
 the saving the life of a man, which I had actually saved once before. At 
 that time, by our law, the punishment of burglary was death, and my com- 
 patriot Shaeffer, was under that sentence. My soul was grieved. 
 
 In a drunken bout at Philadelphia, he had blindly stumbled into a house, 
 which he took to be his lodgings. Here detected in one of the chambers, 
 he was charged as a felon. Gracious God ! upon the superfices of thy 
 earth, there was never a more unoffending soul. He could scarcely see a 
 yard before him. 
 
 It has amused and pleased me often to hear that he extols me. He is 
 now industrious. 
 
 The fate of James Warner, among others, was really lamentable. 
 He was young, handsome in appearance, not more than twenty-five 
 years of age ; he was athletic and seemed to surpass in bodily strength. 
 Yet withal he was a dolt. His wife was beautiful, though coarse in man- 
 ners. The husband on the other hand, was a poor devil, constantly out 
 of view, or in the background of the pictures. 
 
 We heard nothing of them after entering the marsh, and until a month 
 had elapsed at Quebec. In December, the wife or widow of poor James 
 Warner, came to our quarters on the Low-grounds, bearing her husband's 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. ^5 
 
 latter occasion, our kettle, boiling a bleary, which was 
 no other than flour and water, and that without salt, my 
 solicitations prevailing, the mess gave him a tin cup full 
 of it. He received from me my third cake. This man, 
 blind, starving and almost naked, bore his drum (which 
 was unharmed by all its jostlings) safely to Quebec, when 
 many other hale men died in the wilderness. 
 
 November ist. This morning, breakfasting on our 
 bleary, we took up the line of march through a flat 
 and boggy ground. About ten o'clock a.m., we arrived 
 by a narrow neck of land at a marsh which was appalling. 
 It was three-fourths of a mile over, and covered by a 
 
 rifle, his powder-horn and pouch. She appeared fresh and rosy as ever. 
 This arose from the religious and gratuitous spirit of the Canadians. 
 
 The story Mrs. Jemima Warner told, was extremely affecting, and may 
 be worth remembering, as it is something like a sample of the whole of 
 our distresses and intolerable disasters. 
 
 The husband was a great eater. His stores of provisions after the par- 
 tition, at the head of the Chaudiere, were in a little time consumed. The 
 consummate wife ran back from the marsh, and found her beloved hus- 
 band sitting at the foot of a tree, where he said he was determined to die. 
 
 The tender-hearted woman attended her ill-fated husband several days, 
 urging his march forward; he again sat down. Finding all her solicita- 
 tions could not induce him to rise, she left him, having placed all the 
 bread in her possession between his legs with a canteen of water. She 
 bore his arms and ammunition to Quebec, where she recounted the story. 
 The nephews of Natanis, afterwards at Quebec, confirmed the relation of 
 this good woman. For when going up, and returning down the river with 
 our inestimable friend M'Cleland, she urged them, suffused in tears, to take 
 her husband on board. They were necessarily deaf to her entreaties. Thus 
 perished this unfortunate man at a period of his age when the bodily powers 
 are generally in their full perfection. He and many others, who died in 
 the wilderness, lost their lives by an inconsiderate gluttony. They ate as 
 much at a meal as ought to have been in our circumstances the provision 
 of four days, and a march of one hundred miles. Young men without 
 knowledge or previous experience are very difficult to govern by sage advice, 
 when the rage of hunger assails. 
 
 To conclude this lengthy note, allow me to introduce to you another 
 instance of human misery, which came under my eye, in this dolorous and 
 dreadful march. As was before observed in the body of the work " At the 
 head of the Chaudiere, it was given out by the officers, that order would 
 not be required from the soldiery in the march, etc." Yet the companies, 
 being in the most part either fellow-townsmen, or from the same county, 
 adhered together, bound by that affectionate attachment which is engen- 
 
66 Campaign against Quebec, 1775. 
 
 coat of ice, hair an inch thick. Here Simpson concluded 
 to halt a short time for the stragglers or maimed of Hen- 
 dricks's and Smith's companies to come up. There 
 were two women attached to those companies, who 
 arrived before we commenced the march. One was 
 the wife of Sergeant Grier, a large, virtuous and re- 
 spectable woman. The other was the wife of a private 
 of our company, a man who lagged upon every occasion, 
 These women being arrived, it was presumed that all 
 our party were up. We were on the point of entering 
 the marsh, when some one cried out " Warner is not 
 here." Another said he had ••' sat down sick under a 
 
 dered by the locality of birth, or the habitudes of long and severe services, 
 in a communion and endurance of hardships and desperate adventures. It 
 appears to me to be a principle of the human mind, " that the more hard- 
 ships we endure in company of each other, the greater becomes our esteem 
 and affection for our fellow-sufferers." For myself, this is said from expe- 
 rimented woe and extreme calamity. 
 
 We had no path, the river was our guide. One day, either the second 
 or third of this march, a mountain jutting in a most precipitate form into 
 the river compelled us to pass the margin of the stream upon a long log, 
 which had been brought thither by some former freshet. The bark and 
 limbs of the tree had been worn away by the rubbings of the ice, and the 
 trunk lay lengthwise along the narrow passage, smooth and slippery, and 
 gorged the pass. This difficulty had collected here a heterogeneous mass of 
 the troops, who claimed the right of passage according to the order of 
 coming to it. The log was to be footed, or the water, of the depth of 
 three or four feet, must be waded. There was no alternative. An eastern 
 man, bare-footed, bare-headed, and thinly clad, lean and wretched from 
 abstinence, with his musket in hand, passed the log immediately before me. 
 His foot slipped, and he fell several feet into the water. We passed on re- 
 gardless of hia fate. Even his immediate friends and comrades, many of 
 ,whom were on the log at the same moment, did not deign to lend him an 
 assisting hand. Death stared us in the face. I gave him a sincere sigh at 
 parting, for to lose my place in the file, might have been fatal. This piti- 
 able being died in the wilderness. The hard fate of many others might be 
 recapitulated, but the dreadful tale of incidents, if truly told, would merely 
 serve to lacerate the heart of pity, and harrow up the feelings of the soul of 
 benevolence. Tears many years since, have often wetted my cheeks, 
 when recollecting the disasters of that unfortunate campaign, the memora- 
 ble exit of my dearest friends, and of many worthy fellow-citizens, whose 
 worth at this time, is embalmed solely in the breasts of their surviving as- 
 sociates. Seven died sheerly from famine; and many others by disorder* 
 arising from hard service in the wilderness. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^uebec^ ^775- ^7 
 
 tree, a few miles back." His wife begging us to wait a 
 short time, with tears of afFection in her eyes, ran back 
 to her husband. We tarried an hour. They came not. 
 Entering the pond (Simpson fi^remost), and breaking 
 the ice here and there with the buts of our guns and feet, 
 as occasion required, we were soon waist deep in the 
 mud and water. As is generally the case with youths, 
 it came to my mind, that a better path might be found 
 than that of the more elderly guide. Attempting this, 
 in a trice the water cooling my armpits, made me gladly 
 return into the file. Now Mrs. Grier had got before 
 me. My mind was humbled, yet astonished, at the 
 exertions of this good woman Her clothes more than 
 waist hia;h, she waded before me to the firm ground. 
 No one, so long as she was known tu us, dared intimate 
 a disrespectful idea of her. Her husband, who was an 
 excellent soldier, was on duty in Hendricks's boat, which 
 had proceeded to the discharge of the lake with Lieutenant 
 M'Cleland. Arriving at firm ground, and waiting again 
 for our companions, we then set off, and in a march of 
 several miles, over a scrubby and flat plain, arrived at a 
 river flowing from the east into the Chaud'ere lake. 
 This we passed in a bateau, which the prudence of 
 Colonel Arnold had stationed here, for our accommoda- 
 tion i otherwise we must have swam the stream, which 
 was wide and deep. In a short time we came to another 
 river flowing from the same quarter, still deeper and 
 wider than the former. Here we found a bateau, finder 
 the superintendency of Capt. Dearborn, in which we 
 passed the river. We skirted the river to its mouth, 
 then passed along the margin of the lake to the outlet of 
 Chaudiere, where we encamped with a heterogeneous 
 mass of the army. It was soon perceived that the 
 French term Chaudiere^ was most aptly applied to the 
 river below us. Indeed every part of it, which came 
 under our view, until we arrived at the first house in 
 Canada, might well be termed a caldron or boiler, which 
 is the import of its French name. It is remarkable of 
 
68 Campaign against ^ebec^ I775- 
 
 this river, and which, to me, distinguishes it from all 
 others I had seen, that for sixty or seventy miles it is a 
 continued rapid, without any apparent gap or passage, 
 even for a canoe. Every boat we put into the river was 
 stove in one part or other of it. Capt. Morgan lost all 
 his boats, and the life of a much valued soldier. With 
 difficulty he saved his own lifeand the treasure committed 
 to his care. Arnold, accompanied by Steele, and John 
 M. Taylor, and a \tvj others, in a boat, were in the 
 advance of the army. He may have descended in a 
 boat, it is most likely he did.' 
 
 November 2d, in the morning we set off from the 
 Chaudiere lake, and hungered, as to my own particular, 
 almost to death. What with the supplies to Shaeffer, 
 and my own appetite, food of any kind, with me, had 
 become a nonentity. My own sufferings, in the two 
 succeeding marches, from particular causes, were more 
 than ordinarily severe. My moccasins had, many days 
 since, been worn to shreds and cast aside ; my shoes, 
 though they had been well sewed and hitherto stuck to- 
 gether, now began to give way, and that in the very 
 worst part (the upright seam in the heel). For one to 
 save his life, must keep his station in the rank. The 
 moment that was lost, as nature and reason dictate, the 
 following soldier assumed his place. Thus, once thrown 
 out of the file, the unfortunate wretch must await the 
 passage of many men, until a chasm, towards the rear, 
 happened to open for his admission. This explanation 
 will answer some questions which you might naturally 
 put. Why did you not sew it .? Why did you not tie 
 the shoe to your foot .'' If there had been awl, and thread, 
 and strings at command, which there was not, for the 
 causes above stated, one dared not have done cither, as 
 the probable consequences would ensue *•' Death by 
 hunger in a dreary wilderness," For man when thrown 
 
 'June a6th, 1809. John M. Taylor tells me, that they descended by 
 land. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- ^9 
 
 out of society is the most helpless of God's creatures. 
 Hence you may form a conception of the intolerable 
 labor of the march. Every step taken the heel of the 
 foot slipped out of the shoe : to recover the position of 
 the foot in the shoe, and at the same time to stride, vv^as 
 hard labor, and exhausted my strength to an unbearable 
 degree. You must remember that this march was not 
 performed on the level surface of the parade, but over 
 precipitous hills, deep gullies, and even without the path 
 of the vagrant savage to guide us. Thus we proceeded 
 till towards mid-day, the pale and meagre looks of my 
 companions, tottering on their feeble limbs, correspond- 
 ing with my own. My friend Simpson, who saw my 
 enfeebled condition and the cause, prevailed with the 
 men to rest themselves a few minutes. Bark, the only 
 succedaneum for twine, or leather, in this miserable 
 country, was immediately procured and the shoe bound 
 tightly to the foot. Then marching hastily, in the 
 course of an hour or more, we came within view of a 
 tremendous cataract in the river, from twelve to twenty 
 feet high. The horror this sight gave us, fearing for 
 the safety of our friends in the boats, was aggravated, 
 when turning the point of a steep crag, we met those 
 very friends ; having lost all but their lives, sitting around 
 a fire on the shore. Oh God ! what were our sensa- 
 tions ! Poor M'Cleland, first lieutenant of Hendricks's, 
 and for whose accommodation the boat was most par- 
 ticularly carried across the mountain, was lying at the 
 fire ; he beckoned to us. His voice was not audible ; 
 placing my ear close to his lips, the word he uttered 
 scarcely articulate, was, " Farewell." Simpson, who 
 loved him, gave him half of the pittance of food which 
 he still possessed ; all I could was — a tear. The short, 
 but melancholy story of this gentleman, so far as it has 
 come to my knowledge, may be detailed in a few words. 
 He had resided on the Juniata at the time he was com- 
 missioned. My knowledge of him commenced in the 
 camp near Boston. He was endowed with all those 
 
70 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 qualities which win the affections of men. Open, brave, 
 sincere and a lover of truth. On the Dead river, the 
 variable weather brought on a cold which affected his 
 lungs. The tenderness of his friends conducted him 
 safely, though much reduced, to the foot of the mountain, 
 at the head of the Dead river. Hence he was borne in 
 a litter across the mountain by men. If you had seen 
 the young, yet venerable Capt. Hendricks bearing his 
 share of this loved and patriotic burden across the plain 
 to our camp, it would have raised esteem, if not affection, 
 towards him. From our camp, M'Cleland was trans- 
 ported, in the boat, to the place where we found him. 
 The crew, conducting the boat, though worthy rnen and 
 well acquainted with such kind of navigation, knew 
 nothing of this river. They descended, unaware of the 
 pitch before them, until they had got nearly into the 
 suck of the falls. Here, luckily, a rock presented, on 
 which it was so contrived as to cause the boat to lodge. 
 Now the crew, with great labor and danger, bore their 
 unfortunate lieutenant to the shore, where we found him. 
 We passed on, fearful for our own lives. Coming to a 
 long sandy beach of the Chaudiere, for we sometimes 
 had such, some men of our company were observed to 
 dart from the file, and with their nails, tear out of the 
 sand, roots which they esteemed eatable, and ate them 
 raw, even without washing. Languid and woe- begone 
 as your father was, it could not but create a smile to 
 observe the whole line watching, with Argus eyes, the 
 motions of a few men who knew the indications in the 
 sand of those roots. The knowing one sprung, half a 
 dozen followed, he who grabbed it ate the root instantly. 
 Though hunger urged, it was far from me to contend in 
 that way with powerful men, such as those were. Strokes 
 often occurred. 
 
 During this day's march (about 10 or 11 a.m.) my shoe 
 having given away again, we came to a fire, where were 
 some of Captain Thayer or Topham's men. Simpson 
 was in front ; trudging after, slipshod and tired, I sat 
 
Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. 71 
 
 down on the end of a long log, against which the fire 
 was built, absolutely fainting with hunger and fatigue, 
 my gun standing between my knees. Seating myself, 
 that very act gave a cast to the kettle which was placed 
 partly against the log, in such a way as to spill two- 
 thirds of its contents. At the moment a large man 
 sprung to his gun, and pointed it towards me, he threa- 
 tened to shoot. It created no fear ; his life was with 
 much more certainty in my power. Death would have 
 been a welcome visitor. Simpson soon made us friends. 
 Coming to their fire, they gave me a cup of their broth. 
 A table spoonful was all that was tasted. It had a 
 greenish .hue, and was said to be that of a bear. This 
 was instantly known to be untrue, from the taste and 
 smell. It was that of a dog. He was a large black 
 Newfoundland dog, belonging to Thayer's^ and very fat. 
 We left these merry fellows, for they were actually such, 
 maugre all their wants, and marching quickly, towards 
 evening encamped. We had a good fire, but no food. 
 To me the world had lost its charms. Gladly would 
 death have been received as an auspicious herald from 
 the divinity. My privations in every way were such as 
 to produce a willingness to die. Without food, without 
 clothing to keep me warm, without money, and in a 
 deep and devious wilderness, the idea occurred, and 
 the means were in my hands, of ending existence. The 
 God of all goodness inspired other thoughts. One princi- 
 pal cause of change (under the fostering hand of Provi- 
 dence) in my sentiments, was the jovial hilarity ot my 
 friend Simpson. At night, warming our bodies at an 
 immense fire, our compatriots joined promiscuously 
 around — to animate the company, he would sing Plato ; 
 his sonorous voice gave spirit to my heart, and the 
 morality of the song, consolation to my mind. In truth 
 the music, though not so correct as that of Handel, 
 
 ' Said to have belonged to Dearborn, afterwards Maj. Gen Henry 
 Dearborn, of the United States army. — M. 
 
72 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 added strength and vigor to our nerves. This evening 
 it was, that some of our companions, whose stomachs 
 had not received food for the last fortj'-eight hours, 
 adopted the notion that leather, though it had been 
 manufactured, might be made palatable food, and would 
 gratify the appetite. Observing their discourse, to me 
 the experiment became a matter of curiosity. They 
 washed their moccasins of moose-skin, in the first place, 
 in the river, scraping away the dirt and sand, with great 
 care. These were brought to the kettle and boiled a 
 considerable time, under the vague but consolatory 
 hope that a mucilage would take place. The boiling 
 over, the poor fellows chewed the leather, but it was 
 leather still ; not to be macerated. My teeth, though 
 young and good, succeeded no better. Disconsolate and 
 weary, we passed the night. 
 
 November 3d. We arose early, hunger impelling, 
 and marched rapidly. After noon, on a point on the 
 bank of the river, some one pretended he descried the 
 first house, ten miles off. Not long after another dis- 
 cerned a boat coming towards us, and turning a point of 
 land, presently all perceived cattle driving up the shore. 
 These circumstances gave occasion to a feeble huzza 
 of joy, from those who saw these cheerful and enlivening 
 sights. We were now treading a wide and stony beach 
 ot the river. Smith, our captain, who at this moment 
 happened to be in company, elated with the prospect of 
 a supply of food, in the joy of his heart, perhaps thought- 
 lessly, said to me, "take this Henry." It was gladly 
 received. Opening the paper, which had been neatly 
 folded, there appeared a hand's breath and length of 
 bacon-fat, of an inch thick ; thoughtlessly, it was eaten 
 greedily, inattentive to all former rule, and thanks to 
 God, did me no harm. Here it was that for the first 
 time, Aaron Burr, a most amiable youth of twenty, 
 came to my view. He then was a cadet. It will re- 
 quire a most cogent evidence to convince my mind, 
 that he ever intended anv ill to his country of late years, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 73 
 
 by his various speculations. Though differing in politi- 
 cal opinion from him, no reason has as yet been laid before 
 me, to induce a belief that he was traitorous to his 
 country. However, take this as the wayward ideas of a 
 person totally excluded from a knowledge of the secrets 
 of the cabinet ; who was somewhat attentive to its 
 operations, so far as newspaper information can elucidate. 
 
 We marched as hastily as our wearied and feeble 
 limbs could admit, hoping soon to share in something 
 like an abysinian feast. The curvatures of the river 
 had deceived us in the calculation of distance. It was 
 many hours ere we came to the place of slaughter. We 
 found a fire, but no provision, except a small quantity 
 of oaten meal, resembling in grit, our chopped rye. 
 Simpson warmed some of this in water, and ate with 
 gout. To me it was nauseous ; this may have been 
 owing to the luncheon from Smith's hoard. The French 
 men told us, that those who preceded, had devoured the 
 very entrails of the cattle. One of the eastern men, as 
 we came to the fire, was gorging the last bit of the colon, 
 half rinsed, half broiled. It may be said, he ate with 
 pleasure, as he tore it as a hungry dog would tear a 
 haunch of meat. We soon encamped for the night, 
 cheered by the hope of succor. 
 
 November 4th. About two o'clock, p.m., we arrived 
 at a large stream coming from the east, which we ran 
 through, though more than m"id-deep. This was the 
 most chilling bath we had hitherto received ; the weather 
 was raw and cold. It u'as the 17th, and the harshest 
 of my birthdays. Within a few hundred yards of the 
 river, stood the first house in Canada ; we approached 
 it in ecstacy, sure of being relieved from death by the 
 means of famine. Many of our compatriots were un- 
 aware of that death which arises from sudden repletion. 
 The active spirit of Arnold, with such able assistants as 
 John M. Taylor and Steele, had laid in a great stock of 
 provisions. The men were furious, voracious, and insa- 
 tiable. Three starvations had taught me wisdom. My 
 
74 Campaign against ^uebec^ '^11 S' 
 
 friends took my advice. But, notwithstanding the irre- 
 fragable arguments the officers used to insure modera- 
 tion, the men were outrageous upon the subject ; they 
 had no comprehension of such reasoning. A Pennsyl- 
 vanian German of our company, a good and orderly 
 soldier, who, from my affection towards him, I watched 
 like another Doctor Pedro Positive ; yet all representa- 
 tion and reasoning on my part, had no influence. Boiled 
 beef, hot bread, potatoes, boiled and roasted, were gor- 
 mandized without stint. He seemed to defy death, for 
 the mere enjoyment of present gratification, and died 
 two days after. Many of the men sickened. If not 
 much mistaken, we lost three of our company by their 
 imprudence on this occasion. The immediate extension 
 of the stomach by food after a lengthy fast, operates a 
 more sudden extinction of life, than the total absence of 
 aliment. At this place we, for the first time, had the 
 pleasure of seeing the worthy and respectable Indian, 
 Natanis, and his brother Sabatis, with some others of 
 their tribe, the Abenaquis. Lieutenant Steele told us 
 that when he first arrived, Natanis came to him, in an 
 abrupt but friendly manner, and gave him a cordial shake 
 by the hand, intimating a previous personal knowledge 
 of him. When we came, he approached Cunningham, 
 Boyd, and myself, and shook hands in the way of an 
 old acquaintance. We now learned from him, that on 
 the evening when we first encamped on the Dead river 
 (September 29th) in our first ascension, he lay within 
 view of our camp, and so continued daily and nightly to 
 attend our voyage, until the path presented which led 
 directly into Canada. This he took ; to the question, 
 " Why did you not speak to your friends ? He readily 
 answered, and truly, " You would have killed me." 
 This was most likely, as our prejudices against him had 
 been most strongly excited, and we had no limit in our 
 orders, as to this devoted person. He, his brother Saba- 
 tis, and seventeen other Indians, the nephews and friends 
 of Natanis, marched with us to Quebec. In the attack 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' 75 
 
 of that place, on the morning of the first of January 
 following, Natanis received a musket ball through his 
 wrist. He adopted a chirurgery which seemed extraor- 
 dinary at the time, and quite new, but which now seems 
 to me to be that of nature itself. He drew a pledget of 
 linen quite through the wound, the ends of which hung 
 down on each side of the arm. He was taken prisoner, 
 but General Carleton discharged him immediately with 
 strong tokens of commiseration. This is the first instance 
 in the course of our revolutionary war, of the employ- 
 ment of Indians in actual warfare against our enemies. 
 To be sure it was the act of a junior commander, un- 
 warranted, so far as has come to my knowledge, by the 
 orders of his superiors ; yet it seemed to authorize, in a 
 small degree, upon the part, of our opponents, that horri- 
 ble system of aggression which in a short time ensued, 
 and astonished and disgusted the civilized world. 
 
 November 5th. Hunger, which neither knows go- 
 vernance or restraint, being now gratified, we turned our 
 attention towards our friends, who were still in the wil- 
 derness. Smith and Simpson (for recollection does not 
 serve to say how my friends Hendricks and Nichols 
 were employed, but it was certainly in doing good), 
 always active, procured two young Indians, nephews of 
 Natanis, " Sweet fellows," as Simpson called them, to 
 proceed on the following morning to the great fall, for 
 the person of the invaluable M'Cleland. Before we 
 started, it gave me pleasure to see these youths, excited 
 by the reward obtained, pushing their birch-bark canoe 
 against the strict current of the river. It seemed like 
 an egg-shell to bound over the surface of the waves of 
 every opposing ripple. To end at once this dolorous 
 part of our story ; the young men, in despite of every 
 impediment from the waters, and the solicitations of the 
 starved wanderers in the rear, for food, hurried on to the 
 fall, and on the evening of the third day, brought our 
 dying friend to the first house. The following day he 
 died, and his corpse received a due respect from the 
 
76 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^7' S- 
 
 inhabitants of the vicinage. We were informed of this 
 a month after. This real Catholicism towards the re- 
 mains of one we loved, made a deep and wide breach 
 upon my early prejudices, which since 'hat period has 
 caused no regret ; but has induced a more extended and 
 paternal view of mankind, unbounded by sect or opinion. 
 November 6th. This morning we marched in strag- 
 gling parties, through a flat and rich country, sprinkled, 
 it might be said, decoraied, by many low houses, all 
 white washed, which appeared to be the warm abodes 
 of a contented people. Every now and then, a chapel 
 came in sight ; but more frequently the rude, but pious 
 imitations of the sufferings of our Savior, and the 
 image of the virgin. These things created surprise, at 
 least, in my, mind, for where I thought there could be 
 little other than barbarity, we found civilized men, in a 
 comfortable state, enjoying all the benefits arising from 
 the institutions of civil society. The river, along which 
 the road ran, in this day's march, became in the most 
 part our guide. It now flowed in a deep and almost 
 sightless current, where my opportunities gave me a 
 view. Our abstemiousness was still adhered to. About 
 noon of the next day, we arrived at the quarters of 
 Arnold, a station he had taken for the purpose of halt- 
 ing and embodying the whole of our emaciated and 
 straggling troops. We were now perhaps thirty miles 
 from point Levi ; which is on the St. Lawrence, and 
 nearly opposite to Quebec. Now our mess had " friends 
 at court." Arnold, since we left the twelve-mile carry- 
 ing place, the last time, had, deservedly, taken Steele as 
 a guide, into his mess ; and he had become a kind of 
 aid-de-camp — he was, to say no more, a confidential 
 n:\an. John M. Taylor, keen and bold as an Irish grey- 
 hound, was of our company, being a readv penman and 
 excellent accountant. He was at once exalted, by the 
 shrewd and discerning eye of Arnold, to the offices of 
 purveyor and commissary. We had no distinctions of 
 office, scarcely any of rank, in those days. Our squad, 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^77 S' 77 
 
 in consequence, came boldly up to head-quarters, though 
 we came not now into their presence. Steele, who was 
 in waiting, pointed to the slaughterhouse, a hundred 
 yards distant. Thither we went, determined to indulge. 
 Here we found our friend Taylor, worried almost to 
 death, in dealing out the sustenance of life to others. 
 Without hyperbole or circumlocution, he gave us as 
 many pounds of beef-steaks as we chose to carry. Pro- 
 ceeding to the next house, a mile below, some one of 
 the party became cook. Good bread and potatoes, with 
 the accompaniment of beef steak, produced a savory 
 meal. Believing myself out of danger from any extra- 
 ordinary indulgence of appetite, the due quantity was 
 exceeded, and yet, believe me, it was not more than an 
 anchorite might religiously take. We soon became 
 sensible of this act of imprudence. The march of the 
 afternoon was a dull and heavy one. A fever attacked 
 me. I became, according to my feelings, the most 
 miserable of human beings. Determined not to lag be- 
 hind, my eyes, at times, could scarcely discern the way, 
 nor my legs do their office. We did not march far this 
 afternoon. In this high latitude, a winter's day is very 
 short and fleeting. The evening brought me no com- 
 fort, though we slept warmly in a farm house. 
 
 November 7th. The army now formed into more 
 regular and compact order ; in the morning pretty 
 early we proceeded. About noon my disorder had in- 
 creased so intolerably, that I could not put a foot forward. 
 Seating myself upon a log at the way side, the troops 
 passed on. In the rear came Arnold on horseback. He 
 knew my name and character, and, good naturedly, in- 
 quired after my health. Being informed, he dismounted, 
 ran down to the river side, and hailed the owner of the 
 house, which stood opposite across the water. The 
 good Canadian, in his canoe, quickly arrived. Deposit- 
 ing my gun and accoutrements in the hands of one of our 
 men, who attended upon me, and had been disarmed by 
 losing his rifle in some one of the wreckings above, and 
 
7 8 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 Arnold putting two silver dollars into my hands, the 
 Frenchman carried me to his house. Going to bed with 
 a high fever upon me I lay all this and the following day 
 without tasting food. That had been the cause of the 
 disease, its absence became the cure. 
 
 November loth. The morning of the third day 
 brought me health. The mistress of the house, who 
 had been very attentive and kind, asked me to breakfast. 
 This humble, but generous meal, consisted of a bowl of 
 milk, for the guest, with excellent bread. The fare of 
 the family was this same bread, garlic, and salt — I had 
 observed, that this was the usual morning's diet, for I 
 lay in the stove-room, where the family ate and slept. 
 This worthy family was composed of seven persons ; 
 the parents in the prime of life, and five charming, 
 ruddy children, all neatly and warmly clothed in woolen, 
 apparently of their own manufacture. You might 
 suppose, from the manner of their living, that these 
 persons were poor. No such thing. They were in 
 good circumstances. Their house, barn, stabling, etc., 
 were warm and comfortable, and their diet such as 
 is universal among the French peasantry of Canada. 
 Proffering my two dollars to this honest man, he rejected 
 them with something like disdain in his countenance, 
 intimating to me that he had merely obeyed the dictates 
 of religion and humanity. Tears filled my eyes when I 
 took my leave of these amiable people. But they had 
 not even yet done enough for me. The father insisted 
 on attending me to the ferry some miles off, where the 
 river takes a turn almost due north, to meet the St. Law- 
 rence. Here my worthy host procured me a passage 
 scott free., observing to me my money might be required 
 before the army could be overtaken. Landing on the 
 north bank of the river, the way could not be mistaken, 
 the track of the army had strongly marked the route. 
 To me it was a most gloomy and solitary march. Not 
 a soul was to be seen in the course of ten miles. Being 
 without arms, and in an unknown country, my inconse- 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 79 
 
 quence, and futileness lay heavy on my spirits. Here 
 and there was a farm-house, but the inhabitants were 
 either closely housed or absent from their homes. After- 
 noon, arriving at the quarters of our company, my gun 
 and accoutrements were reclaimed with ardor, and a 
 solemn resolution never to part with them again, unless 
 it happened by the compulsion of the foe. The house, 
 which the company possessed, lay some hundreds of 
 paces from head-quarters, but within view. Morgan's 
 quarters were nearer. Where Hendricks made his lodg- 
 ment is not now recollected, but it was at no great 
 distance. 
 
 November nth, on the following day, our guns in 
 order, a scene opened, which then and now seems to me 
 to have exhibited us in a disreputable point of view ; it 
 evinced, at least, the necessity of a staid and sober con- 
 duct of the officer, as well as a strict subordination and 
 obedience of the private. A hurried and boisterous re- 
 port came from head-quarters, that the British were 
 landing to our left at a mill, about a mile ofF. Each one 
 grasped his arms. Morgan and the Indians, who lay 
 nearest to the commander's quarters, were foremost. 
 The running was severe. The lagging Indians, and 
 a variety of the three companies were intermingled. 
 Coming to the brow of the precipice, but still unseen, 
 we perceived a boat landing, which came from a frigate 
 lying in the stream a mile below. The boat came 
 ashore. A youth sprung from it. The tide ebbing, the 
 boatswain thought it better to obtain a deeper landing- 
 place, nearer the mill, and drew off. Morgan, appre- 
 hensive of a discovery of our presence, fired at the boat's 
 crew. A volley ensued without harm, probably because 
 of the great space betweeen us. They pulled offshore, 
 until beyond the range of our guns, leaving the midship- 
 man to our mercy. The hapless youth, confounded, 
 unknowing what to do, plunged into the river, hoping to 
 regain his boat. His friends flying from him, he waded, 
 he swam, yet could not reach the boat. At the distance, 
 
8o Campaigti against Quebec ^ ^11 S- 
 
 perhaps ot one hundred and titty yards, nothing but his 
 head above water, a shooting-match took place, and 
 believe tne, the balls of Morgan, Simpson, Humphreys, 
 and others, played around, and within a few inches of 
 his head. Even after a lapse of thirty years, it gives me 
 pain to recollect that my gun was discharged at him. 
 Such, however, was the savage ferocity engendered, in 
 those ungracious times, by a devolution ot the ministry 
 of the mother-country from the true line of conduct 
 towards her colonies. 
 
 M'Kensie (the nanie of the young man), seeing that 
 his boat's crew had deserted him, showed a desire to sur- 
 render, bv appn^aching the shore. The tiring ceased. 
 But a still more disgusting occurrence than the preced- 
 ing, followed. The lad, coming towards the shore, 
 evidently intendiisg to submit, Sabatis, the Indian, the 
 brother of Natanis, sprung forward, scalping knife in 
 hand, seemingly intending to end the strife at a single 
 .blow. The humanity of Morgan and Humphreys, 
 towards a succumbent foe, was excited. One or the 
 other of them, it is not now recollected which, in par- 
 ticular, by his agility and amazing powers ot body, was 
 enabled to precede the Indian by several yards. This 
 contest of athleticism was observed from the shore, where 
 we were, with great interest. Morgan brought the boy 
 (for he was really such), to land, and afterwards esteemed 
 him, for he merited the good will of a hero. Wet and 
 hungry, we returned to quarters. Running along the 
 shore with our prey, the Hunter, sloop of war, having 
 warped up for the purpose, pelted us all the way with 
 ball and grape shot. It was no easy matter to ascend 
 the bank, which was steep and craggy. Our prisoner 
 was prudently loquacious, and very genteel. He had 
 left the sloop, of which he was a midshipman, upon com- 
 mand, to procure spars and oars, which lay in the mill. 
 He had ordered otF the boat to procure a better landing, 
 when our imprudent fire drove his people from him. He 
 was the brother of Captain M'Kensie of the Pearl fri- 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ I775' <^i 
 
 gate. In i']']']^ the young M'Kensie was again taken. 
 I saw him at Lancaster (Pennsylvania), active, lively, 
 and facetious as ever. During our stay at Point Levi, 
 Colonel Arnold was busily engaged. Being now dis- 
 covered, it became us to pass the St. Lawrence as soon 
 as possible. The main difficulty consisted in the pro- 
 curement of boats or canoes. Those kinds of craft on 
 this part of the river had, previously to our arrival, been 
 secured by the vigilance of government, which it is 
 likely had some intimation of an inroad in the direction 
 we came. Twenty-five canoes, chiefly of birch bark, 
 were with difficulty procured. The command or these 
 was conferred upon Lieutenant Steele, who selected the 
 steersmen, of whom it came to me to be one. The 
 passage, if practicable, must be made in the night, and 
 that in the most silent manner, at a time the tide served. 
 Between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, on the 
 night of the 13th of November, the troops paraded on 
 the beach, near the mill before mentioned, without noise 
 or bustle. One cargo was despatched — then a second : 
 upon making the traverse a third time, an accident 
 happened to my friend Steele, which you can scarcely 
 credit. Being at a considerable distance behind with his 
 canoe, I could not, at its occurring, observe the trans- 
 action, nor share in the danger, though my life would 
 have been willingly risked for his, and yet the relation of 
 this fact is most unquestionably true. These frequent 
 asseverations may appear somewhat awkward, and to 
 blur the detail of our story ; but our sufferings were so 
 extraordinary in their kinds, and so aggravated by the 
 nature of the severe services we underwent, that now-a- 
 days it will require a faith almost approaching to credulity, 
 to convince the mind of their truth. Steele steered a 
 birch-bark canoe, the weight, and it is likely the awkward- 
 ness of the men, when about the middle of the river 
 (which at this place is fully two miles wide), burst the 
 canoe. The men who were in it, swam to, or were 
 taken up, by the canoes nearest to them. It was other- 
 
82 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^775- 
 
 wise with Steele. He was the last to get to a canoe 
 under the management of the worthy Wheeler : but it 
 was full of men. There could be no admittance. The 
 steersman advised, and Steele was compelled from neces- 
 sity, to throw his arms over the stern — Wheeler, seating 
 himself upon them, so as to hold him securely, for it 
 was a bleak and numbing night. Thus, in this manner 
 was this worthy and adventurous officer floated to the 
 shore at Wolf's cove. Here there was an uninhabited 
 house. A fire had been lighted in it, by some of our 
 people, who first landed. It became a pole-star to us in 
 the rear, we steered for it. Landing about half an hour 
 after Steele, we found him at the fire, seemingly chilled 
 to the heart ; but he was a man not to be dispirited by 
 slight matters. Friction soon restored him to his usual 
 animation. The moon, now about three o'clock, shone 
 brightly, and the tide run out rapidly, so that the passing 
 of the rest of the troops, about one hundred and fifty in 
 number, this night was given up. This circumstance, 
 of the absence of so large a part of our force, was known 
 but to few. They joined us on the following night. It 
 had been the intention of our chief to storm the town 
 this night ; but the deficiency of our scaling ladders, 
 many of which were left beyond the river, now repressed 
 that design. 
 
 November 14th. The troops easily ascended the hill, 
 by a good road cut in it slantingly. This was not the 
 case in 1759, when the immortal Wolf mounted here, 
 it was then a steep declivity, enfiladed by a host of 
 savages, but was surmounted by the eager and gallant 
 spirit of our nation. 
 
 November 15th. Arriving on the brow of the pre- 
 cipice, we found ourselves on the plains of Abraham, so 
 deservedly famous in story. The morning was cold, 
 and we were thinly clad. While an adventurous party 
 despatched by Arnold, under the command of one of 
 Morgan's lieutenants, were examining the walls of the 
 city, we were pacing the plains to and fro, in silence, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' ^3 
 
 to keep ourselves warm. The winter had set in — a 
 cold north-wester blew, with uncommon keenness. By 
 the time the reconnoitering party returned, daylight was 
 not very distant. The party found every thing towards 
 the city, in a state of perfect quietness. This report 
 was delivered^ in my presence^ to Morgan^ however the 
 contrary may have been represented since. Not even 
 the cry of " All's well," was uttered, was a part of their 
 report, yet we heard that cry from the walls, even where 
 we were -, but this in a direct line, was nearer to us than 
 the voices opposite to the party. This was the happy 
 moment, but with our small and disjointed force, what 
 could be done ? There was scarcely more than three 
 hundred and fifty men, willing and determined to be 
 sure, but too few to assail a fortress, such as Quebec is. 
 If that had been known this night, which was evidenced 
 in a few days by the fugitives from the city, Arnold 
 would most assuredly have hazarded an attack. St. 
 John's gate, which opens on Abraham's plains, and is a 
 most important station, was unbarred, nay, unclosed: 
 nothing but a single cannon under the care of a drowsy 
 watch, was there as a defence ; we were not a mile 
 distant, and might have entered unknown, and even 
 unseen. These are uncertain opinions, resting on the 
 vague reports of the moment, which might have been 
 true, or untrue. Mv memory is, however, fresh in the 
 recollection of the heart-burnings this failure caused 
 among us. Providence, for wise purposes, would have 
 it otherwise. Near daylight, requiring rest and refresh- 
 ment, the troops moved a mile, to a farm-house of 
 Lieutenant Governor Caldwell's. This was a great pile 
 of wooden buildings, with numerous outhouses, which 
 testified the agricultural spirit and taste of the owner. 
 He, good soul, was then snug in Quebec. Those who 
 carne first, fared well, and as luck would have it, we 
 were of the number: all within and without the house, 
 became a prey. Adversity had destroyed in our minds, 
 every decorous or delicate sensation. Guards were 
 
84 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 stationed next the city. Wrapped in my blanket, fear- 
 less of events, casting my person on the floor of an ele- 
 gant parlor, I slept sweetly and soundly, till two in the 
 afternoon, and then was roused solely by a cry, that the 
 enemy was advancing. We flew to arms, and rather in 
 a hurried manner run towards the city, which was nearly 
 two miles from us. We saw no enemy. It turned out 
 that a Mr. Ogden, a cadet from Jersey, a large and 
 handsome young man in favor with Arnold, had been 
 authorized to place the sentinels that day. He did place 
 them, most stupidly. George Merchant, of Morgan's, 
 a man who would at any time, give him fair play, have 
 sold his life dearly, he stationed in a thicket, within view 
 of the enemy ; at the time of placing him, when at his 
 post, he was out of sight of the garrison ; but the mis- 
 chief was (though he could not be seen), he could see 
 no one approach ,- he was taken absolutely unaware of 
 danger. A sergeant of the seventh, who, from the 
 manner of the thing, must have been clever, accom- 
 panied by a few privates, slily creeping through the 
 streets of the suburbs of St. John, and then undercover 
 of the bushes, sprung upon the devoted Merchant, even 
 before he had time to cock his rifle. Merchant was a 
 tall and handsome Virginian. In a few days, he, hunt- 
 ing shirt and all, was sent to England, probably as a 
 finished specimen of the riflemen of the colonies. The 
 government there very liberally, sent him home in the 
 following year. 
 
 The capture of Merchant grieved us, and brought us 
 within a {^^n hundred yards of the city. Arnold had the 
 boldness, you might say the audacity, or still more cor- 
 rectly, the folly, to draiv us up in a line, in front and 
 opposite to the wall of the city. The parapet was lined 
 by hundreds of gaping citizens and soldiers, whom our 
 guns could not harm, because of the distance. They 
 gave us a huzza ! We returned it, and remained a con- 
 siderable time huzzaing, and spending our powder against 
 the walls, for we harmed no one. Some of our men to 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ i775- ^c 
 
 the right, under the cover of something like ancient 
 ditches and hillocks, crept forward within two hundred 
 yards of the works, but their firing was disregarded by 
 the enemy as farcical. Febiger, who was a real and 
 well instructed soldier, and engineer, did advance singly 
 within a hundred paces, and pored with the eye of an 
 adept. During all this, as my station in the line hap- 
 pened to be on a mound, a few feet higher than the com- 
 mon level of the plain, it was perceptible through the e-n- 
 brasures that there was a vast bustle within. J/j some 
 mmutes a thirty-six pounder was let loose uPon us ; but 
 so ill was the gun pointed, that the bal,' fell short or 
 passed high over our heads. An-riier, and another 
 succeeded — to these salutes,^v^- -gave them all we could, 
 another and another huzz,^, i, f^^^, be confessed, that 
 
 tnis ridiculous afFai-i> . .ui • ■ c 
 
 A 1 , ^T-. . -TIP gave me a contemptible opinion ot 
 Arnold. This r- ■ l • \ m\ 
 
 r> ,. -i.eotion was by no means singular. Morgan, 
 
 ^ -Jfd other officers, who had seen service, did 
 
 •ic-sitate to speak of it in that point of view. How- 
 evcu ... 
 
 ^ -T, Arnold had a vain desire to gratify, of which we 
 
 T^ere then ignorant. He was well known at Quebec, 
 ^Formerly, he had traded from this port to the West 
 Indies, most particularly in the article of horses. Hence, 
 he was despised bv the principal people. The epithet 
 Horse jockey was freely and universally bestowed upon 
 him, by the British. Having now obtained power, he 
 became anxious to display it in the faces of those, who 
 had tormerly despised and contemned him. The vener- 
 able Carleton, an Irishman of a most amiable and mild 
 character. Colonel Alaclean, a Scotchman, old in war- 
 fare, would not, in any shape, communicate with him. 
 If Adontgomerv had originally been our commander, 
 matters might have been more civilly conducted. This 
 particularity in relating a most trivial and disgusting 
 occurrence, arises from a desire to set before you a cau- 
 tionary rule, which it will be prudent for you to observe 
 in your historical reading. " Do not believe an author, 
 unless the story he relates be probable, accompanied by 
 
86 Campaign against ^ebec, ^775- 
 
 such circumstances as might reasonably attend the trans- 
 action, unless he is corroborated by others, who speak 
 on that subject." Many of our wisest men, within the 
 colonies, wrote and spoke of this bravading, as a matter 
 of moment, and with muuh applause. Even some of 
 our historians (Gordon), have given it celebrity. But a 
 more silly and boastful British historian (Amwell), says 
 there was a dreadful cannonade, by which many of the 
 •lebels were destroyed. The truth is, that this day not 
 a Qf^},^ of blood was shed, but that of Governor Cald- 
 well's horned cattle, hogs and poultry, which run plenti- 
 fullv. After this victory in huzzaing, which was boys' 
 play, and suited H^^ to a hair, we returned to quarters to 
 partake of the good thi'.Jgs of this world. 
 
 November 15, the next ^^y-> ^ scene of a different 
 kind opened, which let us into"^*^^ ^^"^ character of 
 Arnold. In the wilderness, the mer^^'^^^^ ^^^'- stinted 
 to a pint of flout by the day. This scanty'^)^'"^^"^^ °* 
 flour had been continued since we had come" iil'^, ^^^^ 
 plentiful country. Morgan, Hendricks and i^"^}^ 
 waited upon the commander in chief, to represent f 
 grievance and obtain redress. Altercation and warm larf" 
 guage took place. Smith, with his usual loquacity, told) 
 us that Morgan seemed, at one time, upon the point of\ 
 striking Arnold. We fared the better for this interview. 
 
 November 16, on the following day, the rifle com- 
 panies removed further from the city. About half a 
 mile from Caldwell's house, our company obtained ex- 
 cellent quarters, in the house of a French gentleman, 
 who seemed wealthy. He was pleasing in his manners, 
 but the rudeness our ungovernable men exhibited, created 
 in him an apparent disgust towards us. Here we re- 
 mained near a week. During that time, we had con- 
 stant and severe duty to perform. There was a large 
 building on the low grounds, near the river St. Charles, 
 which was occupied by a most respectable society of 
 ladies as a nunnery. In the front of this house, at the 
 distance of fifty yards, there was a spacious log building, ^ 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 87 
 
 which seemed to be a school house, occupied by the 
 priesthood attendant on the nunnery. This house we 
 took possession of, as a guard-house, under an idea, as 
 it stood directly between the town, and the nunnery, 
 which contained some precious deposits, that they had not 
 had time to remove, that the enemy would not fire in 
 this direction. The conjecture was just. 
 
 November 16. In the afternoon a distressing occur- 
 rence took place here, notwithstanding our vicinity to 
 this holy place. Towards the evening the guard was 
 relieved. Lieut. Simpson commanded it. This guard 
 was composed of two-and -twenty fine fellows, of our 
 company. When the relief guard came, a Frenchman, 
 of a most villainous appearance, both as tr, person and 
 visage, came to our lieutenant, with a written order 
 ^rom Colonel Arnold, commanding him to accom- 
 pany the bearer, who would be our guide across 
 the river St. Charles, to obtain some cattle feeding 
 beyond it, on the account of government. The order 
 in the first instance, because of its preposterousness, 
 was doubted, but, upon a little reflection, obeyed. 
 Knowing the danger, our worthy lieutenant also knew 
 the best and only means of executing the enterprise. 
 The call "•come on lads," was uttered. We ran with 
 speed from the guard-house some hundreds of yards, over 
 the plain to the mouth of the St. Charles, where the 
 ferry is. Near the ferry there was a large wind- mill, 
 and near it stood a small house resembling a cooper's 
 shop. Two carts of a large size were passing the ferry 
 heavily laden with the household-stuff^, and women and 
 children of the townsmen flying from the suburbs of St. 
 Roque, contiguous tu palace-gate, to avoid the terrible 
 and fatal eff^ects of war. The carts were already in a 
 large scow, or flat-bottomed boat, and the ferrymen, 
 seeing us coming, were tugging hard at the ferry-rope, 
 to get off the boat, which was aground, before we should 
 arrive. It was no small matter, in exertion, to outdo 
 people of our agility. Simpson, with his usual good 
 
88 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 humor, urged the race, from a hope that the garrison 
 would not fire upon us, when in the boat with their fly- 
 ing townsmen. The weight of our bodies and arms put 
 the boat aground in good earnest. Simpson vociferously 
 urging the men to free the boat, directing them to place 
 their guns in my arms, standing on the bow. He ordered 
 me to watch the flashes of the cannon ^ of the city near 
 palace gate. Jumping into the water mid-deep, all but 
 Sergeant Dixon and myself, they were pushing, pulling, 
 and with handspikes attempting to float the scow. One 
 of the carts stood between Dixon and mvselt — he was 
 tugging at the ferry rope. Presently a shot was called, 
 it went wide of the boat, its mark. The exertions of 
 the party were redoubled. Keeping an eve upon the 
 town, the sun about setting, in a clear skv, the view was 
 beautiful indeed, but somewhat terrific. Battlements 
 like these had been unknown to me. Our boat lay like 
 a rock in the water, and was a target at point blank shot, 
 about three-fourths of a mile from palace gate, which 
 issues into St. Roque. I would have adored all the saints 
 in the calendar, if honor and their worships would have 
 permitted the transpo'iation of my person a \'g^w perches 
 from the spot where it then stood, by the austere com- 
 mand of duty. It was plainly observable that many 
 persons were engaged in preparing the guns for another 
 discharge. Our brave men were straining every nerve 
 to obtain success. " A shot," was all that could be 
 said, when a thirty-six pound ball, touching the lower 
 edge of the nob of the cart-wheel, descending a little, 
 toc^k the leg of my patriotic friend below the knee, and 
 carried away the bones of that part entirely. " Oh ! 
 Simpson,'"' he cried, " I am gone." Simpson, whose 
 heart was tender and kind, leaped into the boat : calling 
 to the men, the person of Dixon was borne to the wind- 
 
 ' This was i ridiculous practice, universally adopted in the camp near 
 Boston, and was now pursued at this place. It is merely designative of the 
 raw soldier. Such indications of fear should now a-days be severely repri- 
 manded. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ijj^. 89 
 
 mill. Now a roar of triumph was heard from the city, 
 accompanied by some tolerably well directed shots. The 
 unfortunate was borne at a slow and solemn pace to the 
 guard-house, the enemy, every now and then, sending 
 us his majesty's compliments, in the shape of a twenty- 
 four or thirty-six pound ball. When the procession came 
 into a line with the town, the guard-house and nunnery, 
 the firing ceased. At the time we were most busily en- 
 gaged with Dixon, at the windmill, the vile Frenchman, 
 aghast and horror stricken, fled from us to the city. If 
 his desertion had been noticed in time, his fate had been 
 sealed, but the rascal was unobserved till he had run 
 several hundred yards along the beach of the bay of St. 
 Charles. He turned out to be a spy, purposely sent by 
 government to decoy and entrap us, and he succeeded 
 but too easily with the vigilant Arnold. Dixon was now 
 carried on a litter to the house of an English gentleman, 
 about a mile ofF. An amputation took place — a tetanus 
 followed, which, about nine o'clock of the ensuing day, 
 ended in the dissolution of this honorable citizen and 
 soldier. There are many reasons for detailing this affair 
 so minutely to you. Among these are, to impress upon 
 your minds an idea of the manners and spirit of those 
 times : our means and rude methods of warfare : but 
 more particularly for the purpose of introducing to your 
 observation an anecdote of Dixon, which is characteristic 
 of the ideas and feelings then entertained by the gene- 
 rality of his countrymen. Before we left our native 
 homes, tea had, as it were, become an abomination even 
 to the ladies. The taxation of it by the parliament of 
 England, with design to draw from us a trifling revenue, 
 was made the pretence with the great body of the peo;)le, 
 for our opposition to government. The true ground, 
 however, with the politically wise, was, that that law 
 annihilated our rights as Englishmen. It is an axiom of 
 the common law of our glorious ancestors, that taxation 
 and representation must go hand in hand. This rule 
 was now violated. Hence it was, that no one, male or 
 
90 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S' 
 
 female, knowing their rights, if possessed of the least 
 spark of patriotism, would deign to taste of that delight- 
 ful beverage. The lady of the house, though not one 
 who approved of our principles of action, was very at- 
 tentive to our wounded companion : she presented him 
 a bowl of tea ; " No madam," said he, "it is the ruin 
 of my country." 
 
 November ? 7th, uttering this noble sentiment, this 
 invaluable citizen died, sincerely lamented by every one 
 who had the opportunity of knowing his virtues. Dixon 
 was a gentleman of good property and education, though 
 n> more than the first sergeant of our company. His 
 estate lay in West Hanover township, in the county of 
 Lancaster (now in Daufhin). He was an agriculturist, 
 which, in the vagueness and uncertainty of our language, 
 is called a farmer. In fact he was a freeholder, the pos- 
 sessor of an excellent tract of land, accompanied by all 
 those agreeables which render the cultivator of the earth, 
 in Pennsylvania, the most independent, and, with pru- 
 dent economy, the most happv of human beings. The 
 following morning, Simpson was the first to give me an 
 account of Dixon's death, which affected us much ; his 
 corpse received the usual military honors. Duty com- 
 pelled my absence elsewhere. The blood of Dixon was 
 the first oblation made upon the altar of Liberty at Que- 
 bec, and iMerchant was the first prisoner. The latter 
 was a brave and determined soldier, fitted for subordinate 
 station ; the former was intuitively a captain. The city 
 and vicinity occupied the attention of the commander 
 nearly a week, 
 
 November iSth. Not being fully in the secret, it 
 does not become me to recount the causes of our retreat 
 to Point Aux Tremble. We did, however, make this 
 retrograde movement, rather in a slovenly style, accom- 
 panied, probably, by the maledictions of the clergy and 
 nobility, but attended by the regrets of a host of well- 
 wishers among the peasantry. Point Aux Tremble is at 
 the distance of twenty, or more, miles from Quebec. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 91 
 
 The route thither, though in a severe winter, was in- 
 teresting. The woods were leafless, except as to those 
 trees o\ the fir-kind ; but numerous neat and handsomely 
 situated farm houses and many beautiful landscapes were 
 presented, and enlivened our march along this majestic 
 stream. At Detroit, which is supposed to be little short 
 of nine hundred miles from Quebec — even there, it is 
 no contemptible river, but here fhe inimer.se volume of 
 its waters, strikes the mind of the stranger with astonish- 
 ment and rapture. Our Susquehanna, which, from its 
 grandeur, attracts the European eye, stands in a low 
 grade when compared with the St. Lawrence. Ascend- 
 ing the river at a distance of ten or fifteen miles, we ob- 
 sei ved the rapid passage, down stream, of a boat, and 
 soon afterwards of a ship, one or other of which con 
 tained the person of Sir Guy Carleton. That it was the 
 governor of the province, flying from Montgomery, who 
 had by this time captured Montreal, we were informed 
 by a special kind of messenger, which was no other than 
 the report of the cannon, by way ot feu-de joie, upon 
 his arrival at the capital. Water, in regard to the com- 
 munication of sound, is nearly as good a conductor as 
 metals are, for the transmission of the electric fluid. 
 Though near to the place of our destination, we could 
 mark with precision the report of every gun. Point 
 Aux Tremble, at this time, had assumed the appearance 
 of a straggling village. There was a spacious chapel, 
 where the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion 
 were performed, with a pomp not seen in our churches 
 but by a fervency and zeal apparently very pious, which 
 became a severe and additional stroke at early prejudices. 
 Quarters were obtained in the village and farm houses, 
 dispersed over a space of some miles, up and down the 
 river. We enjoyed as much comfort as tight houses, 
 warm fires, and our scantiness of clothing would admit. 
 Provisions were in plenty, and particularly beef, which, 
 though small in bulk, was of an excellent flavor. Being 
 in a few days, as it were, domesticated in a respectable 
 
go. Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 farmer's house, we now had leisure to observe the 
 economy of the family. Every crevice through which 
 cold air could penetrate, was carefully pasted with strips 
 of paper of every color. To permit the cold air to in- 
 trude is not the only evil which results ; but the smallest 
 interstice with the air, also admits an almost impalpable 
 snow, which is very inconvenient, particularly at night, 
 when the winds blow most sharply. A stove of iron 
 stood a small space from the wall of the kitchen chimney, 
 but in such a way that it might be encompassed by the 
 family or the guests. This stove was kept continually 
 hot both by day and by night. Over the stove there is a 
 rack so constructed as to serve for the drying of wet 
 clothes, moccasins, etc., etc. When these people slaughter 
 their beasts for winter use, they cut up the meat into small 
 pieces, such as a half pound, two pounds, etc., according 
 to the number of tlie family. In the evening before 
 bedtime, the females of the house prepare the dinner of 
 the following day. It may be particularly described, as 
 it was done in our view for a number of days together, 
 and during the time was never varied. This was the 
 manner : a piece of pork or beef, or a portion of each 
 kind, together with a sufficiency of cabbage, potatoes 
 and turnips, seasoned with salt, and an adequate quantity 
 of water, were put into a neat tin kettle with a close 
 lid. The kettle thus replenished, was placed on the 
 stove in the room where we all slept, and there it sim- 
 mered till the time of rising, when it was taken to a 
 small fire in the kitchen, where a stewing continued till 
 near noon, when they dined. The contents were turned 
 into a large basin. Each person had a plate, no knife 
 was used, except one to cut the bread, but a five or six 
 pronged fork answered the purposes of a spoon. The 
 meat required no cutting, as it was reduced to a mucilage, 
 or at least to shreds. This, you may say, is (rifling in- 
 formation, and unworthy of vour notice ; according to 
 my mind, it is important to all of us, to know the habits, 
 manners, and means of existence of that class of society, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 5- 93 
 
 which, in all nations, composes the bulk and strength of 
 the body politic. Our dinner followed in a few hours. 
 The manner of our cookery excited astonishment in our 
 hosts. As much beef was consumed at a single meal, 
 as would have served this family for a week. Remember, 
 however, that the mess consisted of persons who were 
 entitled to double and treble rations. Two rosy-cheeked 
 daughters of the house, soon contrived the means and 
 obtained the surplus. This circumstance, most proba- 
 bly, made us agreeable to the family, for we had nothing 
 else to bestow. The snow had now fallen in abundance, 
 and enlivened the country. Sleighs and sleds were pass- 
 ing in every direction. The farmers began to supply 
 themselves with a full stock of winter's fuel from the 
 forest, No fowls were visible about the house ; a few 
 were kept alive for breeding in the ensuing summer, in 
 a close and warm coop in the upper story of the barn. 
 The rest of the fowls, intended for the market or winter's 
 use, had been slaughtered, early in autumn, at setting 
 in of the frost, and were hung up in the feathers in the 
 garret. Thence they were taken as wanted. Towards 
 March they become unsavory, but in no way tainted. 
 We became acquainted with this kind of economy, but 
 upon a much larger scale afterwards, when in a state of 
 affliction and sorrow. The roads in this part of Canada 
 are kept in excellent order. The corvee of European 
 France is maintained by the government in full effect, 
 as to its principles, but far less rigid in its practice. 
 The roads in low grounds, were ditched on the sides 
 and curved towards the centre. Every forty or fifty 
 yards on each side of the road, throughout the extent of 
 it, young pines were stuck in the ground, to mark the 
 central and safest passage. It is a law, that the land- 
 holder, whenever a snow falls, whether by day or night, 
 when it ceases, shall with his horses and cariole, retrace 
 the road, formed on the preceding snow, throughout the 
 extent of his grounds. This is a laborious duty, but it was 
 discernible that it was performed with punctuality, if 
 
94 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 not pleasure. In December, January and February, 
 when the snow lays from three to five feet deep over the 
 surface, there is no traveling in this country, but by ways 
 thus formed, or upon snow shoes. 
 
 December i. General Montgomery, who was 
 anxiously expected, arrived. Arnold's corps was 
 paraded in the front of the chapel. It was lowering and 
 cold, but the appearance of the general here, gave us 
 warmth and animation. He was well limbed, tall and 
 handsome, though his face was much pockmarked. His 
 air and manner designated the real soldier. He made 
 us a shorty but energetic aiid elegant speech, the burden 
 of which was, an applause of our spirit in passing the 
 wilderness ; a hope our perseverance in that spirit would 
 continue ; and a promise of warm clothing ; the latter 
 was a most comfortable assurance. A few huzzas from 
 our freezing bodies were returned to this address of the 
 gallant hero. Now new life was infused into the whole 
 of the corps. 
 
 December 2d. ^ he next day we retraced the route 
 from Quebec. A snow had fallen during the night, and 
 continued falling. To march on this snow, was a most 
 fatiguing business. By this time, we had generally 
 furnished ourselves with seal-skin moccasins, which 
 are large, and, according to the usage of the country, 
 stuffed with hay or leaves, to keep the feet dry and 
 warm. Every step taken in the dry snow, the moccasin 
 having no raised heel to support the position of the foot, 
 it slipped back, ai^.d thus produced great weariness. On 
 this march the use of the snow-shoe was very obvious, 
 but we were destitute of that article. The evening 
 brought up the riflemen at an extensive house, in the 
 parish of St. Foix, about three miles from Quebec. It 
 was inhabited by tenants. We took possession of a 
 front parlor on the left, Morgan one upon the right, 
 Hendricks, a back apartment, and the soldiery in the 
 upper parts of the house, and some warm out-buildings. 
 
 December 3d. Morgan, not finding himself comforta- 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 95 
 
 ble, moved a short space nearer to the city. Here, in 
 low and pretty country houses, he and his men were 
 neatly accommodated. It seemed to me, that the Cana- 
 dians in the vicinage of Quebec lived as comfortably, 
 in general, as the generality of the Pennsylvanians did, 
 at that time, in the county of Lancaster. It may readily 
 occur to you, that some restriction ought to cramp this 
 latitude of expression ; take it, however, as a description 
 of our sensations, entertained in our minds by the con- 
 veniences we now enjoyed, in opposition to our late 
 privations. We had just arrived from a dreary anil in- 
 hospitable wild, half-starved and thinly clothed, in aland 
 of plenty, where we had full rations and warm quarters, 
 consequently, our present feelings contrasted with former 
 sufFeiings, might have appreciated in too high a degree, 
 the happineb.s of the Canadian. What is now said, 
 ought not to be taken in anywise as an allusion to the 
 political rights, but be confined solely to the appareni; 
 prosperity and economy of families 
 
 December 12th. We remained about ten days at 
 these quarters. The tours of duty, to Arnold's party, 
 were peculiarly severe. The officers and men still wore 
 nothing else than the remains of the summer clothing, 
 which, being on their back, had escaped destruction in 
 the disasters of the wilderness. The snow lay three feet 
 deep over the face of the whole country, and there was 
 an addition to it almost daily. Many impediments 
 occurred, to delay the transportation of the clothing, 
 which General Montgomery had procured for us at 
 Montreal. Our miserable state, contrary to our prin- 
 ciples, excited an illicit desire to be apparreled more 
 comfortably. This desire would probably have lain dor- 
 mant, but for a scoundrel Canadian, who in all likelihood 
 was an enemy of Lieutenant Governor Cromie's. One 
 morning having returned from a cold night's duty, near 
 palace gate, the fellow addressed Simpson, who was the 
 only officer in quarters, and communicated the informa- 
 tion : " That about two miles up the St. Lawrence, lay 
 
96 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S' 
 
 a country seat of Governor Cromie's, stocked with many 
 things we wanted, and he would be our guide." Ca- 
 rioles were immediately procured. The house, a neat 
 box, was romantically situated on the steep bank of the 
 river, not very distant from a chapel. Though in the 
 midst of winter, the spot displayed the elegant taste and 
 abundant wealth of the owner. It must be a most de- 
 lightful summer residence, in the months of July and 
 August, when the heat of this northern climate seems 
 greater to sensation, than that of our country, in the 
 same season. The house was closed ; knocking, the 
 hall door was opened to us by an Irishwoman, who, of 
 the fair sex, was the largest and most brawny that ever 
 came under my notice. She was the stewardess of the 
 house. Our questions were answered with an apparent 
 affability and frankness. She introduced us into the 
 kitchen, a large apartment, well filled with those articles 
 which good livers think necessary to the happy enjoy- 
 ment of life. Here we observed five or six Canadian 
 servants, huddled into a corner of the kitchen, trembling 
 with fear. Our prying eyes soon discovered a trap- 
 door leading into the cellar. In the country houses of 
 Canada, because of the frigidity of the climate, the cel- 
 lars are usually under a warm room, and are principally in- 
 tended for the preservation of vegetables. The cavity 
 in this instance, abounded with a great variety of eata- 
 bles, of which we were not in the immediate want. 
 The men entered it. Firkin after firkin of butter, lard, 
 tallow, beef, pork, fresh and salt, all became a prey. 
 While the men were rummaging below, the lieutenant 
 descended to cause more despatch. Mv duty was to 
 remain at the end of the trap door, with my back to the 
 wall, and rifle cocked, as a sentry, keeping a strict eye 
 on the servants. Mv good Irishwoman frequently 
 beckoned to me to descend ; her drift was to catch us all 
 in the trap. Luckily she was comprehended. The 
 cellar and kitchen being thoroughly gutted, and the spoil 
 borne to the carriages, the party dispersed into other 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^775- 97 
 
 apartments. Here was elegancy. The walls and par- 
 titions were beautifully papered and decorated, with 
 large engravings, maps, etc., etc., of the most celebrated 
 artists. A noble view of the city of Philadelphia, upon 
 a large scale, taken from the neighborhood ot Cooper's 
 ferry, drew my attention, and raised some compunctive 
 ideas ; but war and the sciences always stand at arms 
 length in the contests of mankind. The latter must 
 succumb in the tumult. Our attention was much more 
 attracted by the costlv feather beds, counterpanes, and 
 charming rose-blankets, which the house afforded. Of 
 these there was good store, and we left not a jot behind 
 us. The nooks and crevices in the carioles were filled 
 with smaller articles ; several dozens of admirably 
 finished case-knives and forks ; even a set of desert knives 
 obtained the notice of our cupidity. Articles of lesser 
 moment, not a thousandth part so useful, did not escape 
 the all-grasping hands of the soldiery. In a back apart- 
 ment there stood a mahogany couch, or settee in a 
 highly finished style. The woodwork of the couch was 
 raised on all sides by cushioning, and lastly, covered by 
 a rich figured silk. This to us was lumber, besides our 
 carioles were full. However, we grabbled the mattrass 
 and pallets, all equally elegant as the couch. Having, as 
 we thought, divested his excellency of all the articles of 
 prime necessity, we departed, ostensibly and even audibly 
 accompanied by the pious blessings of the stewardess 
 for our moderation. No doubt she had her mental re- 
 servations ; on such business as this, we regarded neither. 
 Near the chapel we met a party of Morgan's men com- 
 ing to do that which we had already done. The officer 
 appeared chagrined when he saw the extent of our plunder. 
 He went on, and finally ransacked the house, and yet a 
 little more, the stables. The joy of our men, among 
 whom the plunder was distributed in nearly equal portions, 
 was extravagant. Now an operation of the human mind, 
 which often takes place in society, and is every day dis- 
 cernible bv persons of observation, became clearh 
 9 
 
98 Campaign against Quebec y 1775. 
 
 obvious. " Let a man once, with impunity, desert the 
 strict rule of right, all subsequent aggression is not only 
 increased in atrocity, but is done without qualm of con- 
 science." Though our company was composed prin- 
 cipally of freeholders, or the sons of such, bred at home 
 under the strictures of religion and morality, yet when 
 the reins of decorum were loosed, and the honorable 
 feeling weakened, it became impossible to administer 
 restraint. The person of a tory, or his property, became 
 fair game, and this- at the denunciation of some base 
 domestic villain. 
 
 December 13th. On this morning the same auda- 
 cious scoundrel again returned. By leading to the first 
 affair, and his intercourse with the privates, he had so 
 wormed himself into their good graces that nothing 
 would do but a system of marauding upon our supposed 
 enemies, the tories. In this new expedition, which 
 was fuither than the former, the officers thought it pru- 
 dent to accompany the men, in truth, to keep order 
 and repress their ardency. We arrived at a farm said to 
 belong to Gov. Cromie or some other inhabitant of 
 Quebec. The farm house, though low, being but one 
 story, was capacious, and tolerably neat. The barn 
 built of logs, with a threshing-floor in the center, was 
 from seventy to eighty feet in length. The tenant, his 
 wife, and children, shuddered upon our approach. As- 
 surances that they should be unharmed, relieved their 
 fears. The tenant pointed out to us the horned-cattle, 
 pigs and poultry of his landlord. These we shot down 
 without mercy, or drove before us to our quarters. 
 Thus we obtained a tolerable load for our caravan, which 
 consisted of five or six carioles. 
 
 With this disreputable exploit, marauding ceased. 
 A returning sense of decency and order, emanating from 
 ourselves, produced a species of contrition. It is a 
 solemn truth that we plundered none but those who 
 were notoriously tories, and then within the walls of 
 Quebec. The clergy, the nobles, and the peasantry, 
 
Campaign against ^uebec^ ^775- 99 
 
 were respected and protected, especially the latter, with 
 whom, to use a trite expression, we fraternized. The 
 minuteness of this description of occurrences, of a trivial, 
 yet disgraceful nature, is made the more strongly to 
 impress your minds with the horrors attendant on civil 
 wars. This species of war, more than any other, not 
 only affects the great and the wealthy, but it intrudes 
 itself into, and devastates the cottage. This the Ame- 
 rican people know, from the many melancholy scenes 
 which succeeded the period spoken of. 
 
 Gracious and Almighty God ! the shield and protector 
 of the good, as well as thou art the scourge of the base 
 and wicked nation, avert from my country this the most 
 terrible of thy modes of temporal vengeance. 
 
 December 15th. In a short time, the rifle companies 
 moved and occupied good quarters on the low grounds, 
 near St. Charles river, and about two miles from Quebec. 
 Our clothing was still of the flimsy kind, before noted, 
 but our hearts were light, even to merriment. Indi- 
 vidually, from our own funds, we supplied ourselves 
 with arm-gloves, and renewed our moccasins. This was 
 about the middle of December. During all this time, 
 our daily duty was laborious in various ways, and every 
 other night we mounted guard at St. Roque. A guard- 
 house ere this, had been established at this place, in a 
 very large stone house, which, though strong, being 
 exposed to the enemy's fire, was soon battered about 
 our ears, the distance scarcely more than three hundred 
 yards. That position was changed for one more secure. 
 A house which had been a tavern, was adopted in its 
 stead. This house was peculiarly situated. It was 
 comparatively small with the former in its dimensions, 
 but the walls were strong, and the ceilings bomb-proof. 
 It stood under the hill, so as to be out of the range of 
 the shot from the ramparts contiguous to palace gate, 
 which were elevated far above us. Simpson would say. 
 Jack, let us have a shot at those fellows. Even at 
 noon-day, we would creep along close to the houses. 
 
lOO Campaign against Quebec ^ '^11 S- 
 
 which ranged under the hill, but close in with it, till we 
 came within forty yards of palace gate. Here was a 
 smith-shop, formed of logs, through the crevices of 
 which we would fire, at an angle of seventy, at the 
 sentries above us. Many of them were killed, and it 
 was said, several officers. This was dishonorable war, 
 though authorized by the practices of those times. The 
 distance from this guard-house to palace gate, may be 
 three hundred and fifty yards. The hill, at the back of 
 the house, seemed to make an angle of sixty or seventy 
 degrees. This activity continued from the walls of the 
 city, and around it by the lower town (where it is greatest), 
 for many miles up the St. Lawrence and St. Charles, and 
 forms the basis of Abraham's plains. It was about that 
 time the York artillerists, under Captain Lamb, had con- 
 structed a battery on the Plains, at the distance of six 
 hundred or seven hundred yards from the fortress. The 
 earth was too difficult for the intrenching tools to pierce, 
 the only method left was to raise a battery composed of 
 ice and snow. The snow was made into ice by the 
 addition of water. The work was done in the night 
 time. Five or six nine-pounders, and a howitzer were 
 placed in it ; it was scarcely completed, and our guns 
 had opened on the city, before it was pierced through 
 and through, by the weightier metal of the enemy. 
 Several lives were lost on the first and second day. Yet 
 the experiment was persisted in, till a single ball, piercing 
 the battery, killed and wounded three persons. In the 
 quarters last mentioned, we enjoyed some pleasant days. 
 The winter in Canada, as with us, is the season of good 
 humor and joy. 
 
 December i8th, 19th. Upon a secession from the 
 out-post, or other military employments, we were agreea- 
 bly received in the farm houses around. Our engage- 
 ments near palace gate, still continued to be of the 
 arduous kind ; our numbers being few, every second 
 watch was performed by the same persons who had 
 made the guard the last but one. Between the guard- 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, IJIS- loi 
 
 house, and the extreme end of the suburbs of St. Roque, 
 which may be half a mile from the ramparts, there was 
 a rising ground in the main street fairly in view of the 
 enemy, and whilst we relieved in daylight, was raked 
 even by grape shot. Some good men were lost here. 
 This circumstance changed the time of relief, to nine 
 o'clock in the evening. The rifle men were principally 
 employed as guards at this dangerous station. It is but 
 fair and honest to relate to you an anecdote concerning 
 myself, which will convey to your minds some notion 
 of that affection of the head or heart, which the military 
 call a panic terror. Being one of the guard and having 
 been relieved as a sentry, about twelve or one o'clock 
 at night, upon returning to the guard house, in a dozing 
 state, I cast myself on a bench next the back wall — ■ 
 young, my sleeps were deep and heavy ; my youth 
 obtained this grace from Simpson, the officer who com- 
 manded ; about three o'clock I was roused by a horri- 
 ble noise. The enemy, in casting their shells, usually 
 b^'gan in the evening, and threw but a few, towards 
 morning they became more alert. Our station being 
 out of sight, it was so managed as to throw the shells on 
 the side of the hill, directly back of us, so as they would 
 trundle down against the wall of the guard house. This 
 had frequently occurred before, but was not minded. 
 A thirteen inch shell, thus thrown, came immediately 
 opposite the place where my head lay ; to be sure the 
 three feet wall was between us. The bursting report 
 was tremendous, but it was heard in a profound sleep. 
 Starting instantly, though unconscious of the cause, and 
 running probably fifty yards, through untrod snow, three 
 feet deep, to a coal house, a place quite unknown to me 
 before, it was ten or fifteen minutes before the extreme 
 cold restored that kind of sensibility which enabled me 
 to know my real situation. Knowing nothing of the 
 cause, the probable effect, nor anything of the conse- 
 quences which might follow from this involuntary exer- 
 tion, it seemed to me to be a species of the panic which 
 
I02 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 has been known to affect whole armies. • The circum- 
 stance here related, caused a laugh against me ; but it 
 was soon discovered that those of the soldiery, though 
 wide awake, were as much panic stricken as myself. 
 The laugh rebounded upon them. During this period 
 we had many bitter nights. To give you some idea of 
 a Canada winter, allow me to relate an occurrence 
 which is literally genuine. 
 
 December 24th. One night, at the time of relief, a 
 confidential person came from Colonel Arnold, accom- 
 panied by an Irish gentleman named Craig, directing 
 the relieved guard to escort him to his own house, which 
 stood between twenty and thirty paces from palace 
 gate. Craig was a merchant of considerable wealth, and 
 what was more, an excellent whig. He was expelled 
 from his habitation because of his whigism, and took 
 refuge in Arnold's quarters. Montgomery, by this time, 
 had furnished us with personal clothing suitable to the 
 climate, but there were a thousand other things wanting 
 for comfortable accommodation. Many of these Mr. 
 Craig possessed, and Arnold's luxurious cupidity desired. 
 Craig's house was an extensive building, three stories 
 high, with back buildings of an equal height, running 
 far in the rear along the foot of the hill. This last 
 building consisted of stores which, as well as the house, 
 was of brick work. We came to the back part of the 
 house silently, and with the utmost caution. Mr. Craig 
 by a slight knock brought a trusty old negro to the 
 door, who was the sole guardian of the house. The 
 objects of Mr. Craig were frying pans, skillets, and a 
 great variety of other articles of ironmongery, together 
 with cloths, flannels, linens, etc., etc., etc. The 
 party with Craig entered the house. As a man of con- 
 fidence and as a sentry, it became my business to watch 
 the palace gate. There was a clear moonlight, but it 
 was exceedingly bleak. My place of observation was 
 under a brick arch, over which were stores of Mr. Craig, 
 perhaps less than eighty feet from palace gate. My 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^775* 1^3 
 
 gloves were good and well lined with tu', and my moc- 
 casins of the best kind, well stuffed. Unseen, continu- 
 ally pacing the width of the arch, my companions 
 seemed to employ too mucli time. Some Frenchmen, 
 of Colonel Livingston's regiment, without our know- 
 ledge, had been below palace gate marauding. Repass- 
 ing the house we were at, like so many hell hounds, 
 they set up a yelling and horrid din, which not only 
 scared our party, but alarmed the garrison itself. My 
 companions in the house (apprehensive of a sally from 
 palace gate), fled, carrying all they could. Though I 
 heard the noise, the fliglit of my friends was unseen, as 
 they emerged from the cellars. The noise and bustle 
 created by the Canadians attracted the attention of the 
 enemy. Large and small shells were thrown in every 
 direction, wherever a noise was heard in St. Roque. 
 Having on a line white blanket coat, and turning my cap, 
 or bonnet roiige^ inside out, the inside being white, made 
 me, as it were, invisible in the snow. Under the arch 
 the conversation of the sentries, as it were, almost over 
 mv head, was very distinguishable. In this cold region, 
 many reasons operate to induce the placing two sentries 
 at the same post — they enliven each other by convers- 
 ing, and it prevents the fatal effects which follow from 
 standing still in one position. Fifteen minutes, at this 
 time, was the term of the sentries standing. The time 
 of my standing under the arch seemed to be several 
 hours, yet iionor and duty required perseverance. At 
 length, being wearied out, going to the back door of the 
 house and knocking, no whisper could be heard within, 
 the old negro was soundly asleep in his bomb-proof 
 shell. At this moment those Canadians ran past the 
 gateway again, with their usual noisy jabber ; to me, in 
 my deserted state, it seemed a sally of the enemy. 
 There was no outlet but by the way we came, which 
 seemed hazardous. Running gun in hand into a large 
 enclosure, which was a garden of Mr. Craig's, here was 
 a new dilemma. There v.-as no escape but by return- 
 
I04 Campaign against ^ebec, ^11 S- 
 
 ing to the house or climbing a palisade twenty feet high. 
 The latter was preferred ; but my rifle was left within 
 the enclosure, as no means could be fallen upon to get 
 it over the stockade. The guard house was soon 
 reached. One of the sergeants kindly returned with 
 me to assist in bringing over my gun. It was grasped 
 in ecstasy. Alas ! the determination never to part with 
 it again, but with life, was futile. While in the enclo- 
 sure, going from and returning to it, we were assailed 
 with grape-shot and shells, not by any means aimed at 
 us, for the enemy knew not that we were there, but was 
 intended to disperse those vociferous and vile Canadians, 
 and it had the effect. They were as cowardly as noisy. 
 The cohorn shells were handsomely managed. They 
 usually burst at fifteen or twenty feet from the earth, so 
 as to scatter their destructive effects more widely. Again 
 coming to the guard house, my immediate friends all 
 gone, I ran thence to our quarters, about two miles, with 
 great speed. This was about three o'clock in the morn- 
 ing. Coming to quarters, my feet and hands were 
 numbed, without ever having, during those many dreary 
 hours, been sensible of the cold. It was soon discovered 
 that they were frozen. Pulling off my leggings, etc., 
 and immerging my feet and legs knee deep m the snow 
 at the door, rubbing with my hands a few minutes, soon 
 caused a recirculation of the blood ; the hands were re- 
 stored by the act. For fifteen, and even twenty years 
 afterwards, the intolerable effects of that night's frost 
 were most sensibly felt. The soles of my feet, particu- 
 larly the prominences, were severely frostbitten and 
 much inflamed ; so it was as to my hands. But it was 
 very remarkable that these subsequent annual painings 
 uniformly attacked me in the same month of the year 
 in which the cause occurred. 
 
 On the night of the 20th, or 21st of December, a 
 snow-storm, driving fiercely from the north-east, induced 
 the noble Montgomery to order an attack on the fortress. 
 Our force, altogether, did not amount to more than 
 
Campaign against Quebec, 1775. 105 
 
 eleven hundred men, and many of these, by contrivances 
 of their own, were in the hospital, which, by this time, 
 was transferred to the nunnery. The storm abated — 
 the moon shone, and we retired to repose, truly unwill- 
 ingly. We had caught our cornmander's spirit, who 
 was anxious, after the capture of Chamblee, St. Johns 
 and Montreal, to add Quebec, as a prime trophy to the 
 laurels already won. Captain Smith, ' the head of our 
 mess, as captain, had been invited to General Mont- 
 gomery's council of officers (none under that grade 
 being called) ; like most of uninstructed men he was 
 talkative, and what is much worse, in military affairs, 
 very communicative. I believe blushing followed the 
 intelligence he gave me : the idea of impropriety of con- 
 duct in him, deeply impressed my mind. The whole 
 plan of the attack on the two following days was known 
 to the meanest man in the army. How it was disclosed, 
 is uncertain, unless by the fatuity of the captains. One 
 Singleton, a sergeant in the troops which accompanied 
 Montgomery, deserted from the guard at the suburbs of 
 St. Johns, and disclosed to our foes the purport of our 
 
 ' Colonel Matthew Smith of Paxtang, who commanded the company in 
 which young Henry served in the Quebec campaign, was one of the war 
 eagles of the revolution. He was a native of Lancaster county, now Dau- 
 phin, born about 1730. Hetook a warm interest in the affair at Conestoga 
 and Lancaster in 1763-4, and was delegated by the Paxtang Boys to make 
 a proper representation to the provincial assembly who were bent on per- 
 secuting that band of heroes. He enlisted his company in June, 1775, ^""^ 
 with Hendricks was the first south of the Hudson river to reach the be- 
 leaguered city of Boston after the battle of Bunker hill. At the time of the 
 attack upon Quebec, Captain Smith was on detached duty, and not with 
 his company. He was, however, taken prisoner, released on parole and 
 exchanged the latter part cf the year 1776, and subsequently promoted to 
 major. He served as a member of the supreme executive council of 
 Pa., in 1778-9, and was for a brief period vice-president of the state. 
 Early in 1780 he was appointed prothonotary of Northumberland county. 
 He died at Milton, July 21, 1794, and was buried at Warren Run burying 
 ground six miles distant. Col. Smith was a fine looking man, had the air 
 of a soldier, and was as ardent a patriot as ever breathed. Judge Henry, 
 on account of Capt. Smith's rigid discipline, took a dislike to him, and in 
 his narrative shows it prominently. — Dr. Wm. H. Egle. 
 
io6 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 schemes ; his desertion caused much anxiety. The 
 general prudently gave out that it was by command, he 
 would return soon with intelligence. This was believed 
 generally. The latter information came to my know- 
 ledge some months afterwards, when a prisoner. The 
 relation of Smith to me is perfect on my memory. 
 Youths seldom forget their juvenile impressions. It was 
 this: "That we, of Arnold's corps, accompanied by 
 Captain Lang's York artillerists, should assail the lower 
 town, on the side of St. Roque : General Montgomery 
 was to attack the lower town by the way of Cape Dia- 
 mond, which is on the margin of the St. Lawrence. A 
 false attack was to be made eastwardly of St. John's 
 gate. When Montgomery and Arnold conjoined in the 
 lower town, then the priests, the women and the child- 
 ren, were to be gathered and intermingled with the 
 troops and an assault be made on the upper town." 
 Visionary as this mode of attack was, from what ensued, 
 it is sincerely my belief that Smith was correct in his 
 information, as to the plan suggested by the general. 
 In those turbulent times, men of gallantry, such as 
 Montgomery, were imperiously necessitated, to keep 
 up their own fame and the spirits of the people, to pro- 
 pose and to hazard measures, even to the confines of 
 imprudence. There was another circumstance which 
 induced our brave and worthy general to adopt active 
 and dangerous means of conquest. Many of the New 
 England troops had been engaged on very short enlist- 
 ments, some of which were to expire on the first of 
 January, 1776. The patriotism of the summer of 
 seventy-five, seemed almost extinguished in the winter 
 of seventy-six. The patriotic officers made everv exer- 
 tion to induce enlistments but to no purpose. We, of 
 the rifle corps, readily assented to remain with the gene- 
 ral, though he should be deserted by the eastern men, 
 yet this example had no manner of influence on the 
 generality. The majority were either farmers or sailors, 
 and some had wives and children at home. These, and 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- ^^7 
 
 other reasons, perhaps the austerity of the winter, and 
 the harshness of the service, caused an obstinacy of mind 
 which would not submit -to patriotic representation. 
 Besides the smallpox, ' which had been introduced into 
 our cantonments by the indecorous, yet fascinating arts 
 of the enemy, had already begun its ravages. This 
 temper of the men was well known to the general. 
 
 It was not until the night of the thirty-first of 
 December, 1775, that such kind of weather ensued as 
 was considered favorable for the assault. The forepart 
 of the night was admirably enlightened by a luminous 
 moon. Many of us, officers as well as privates, had 
 dispersed in various directions among the farm and tip- 
 pling houses of the vicinity. We well knew the signal 
 for rallying. This was no other than a snow-storm. 
 About twelve o'clock p.m., the heaven was overcast. 
 We repaired to quarters. By two o'clock we were 
 accoutred and began our march. The storm was out- 
 rageous, and the cold wind extremely biting. In this 
 northern country the snow is blown horizontally into 
 the faces of travelers on most occasions — this was our 
 case. 
 
 January ist. When we came to Craig's house, near 
 palace gate, a horrible roar of cannon took place, and a 
 ringing of all the bells of the city, which are very numer- 
 ous, and of all ^zes. Arnold, heading the forlorn hope, 
 advanced, perhaps, one hundred yards before the main 
 body. After these, followed Lamb's artillerists. Mor- 
 gan's company led in the secondarv part of the column 
 of infantry. Smith's followed, headed by Steele, the 
 captain, from particular causes, being absent. Hen- 
 drick's company succeeded, and the eastern men, so far 
 as known to me, followed in due order. The snow was 
 
 'In relation to the small-pox, the circumstance about to be related, is 
 most assuredly true, as it is known to me of mv own particular knowledge. 
 A number of women loaded with the infection of the small-pox, came into 
 our cantonments. — Henry. 
 
io8 Campaign against ^uebec^ ^77 S-- 
 
 deeper than in the fields, because of the nature of the 
 ground. The path made by Arnold, Lamb and Morgan, 
 was almost imperceptible, because of the falling snow ; 
 covering the locks of our guns with the lappets of our 
 coats, holding down our heads (for it was impossible to 
 bear up our faces against the imperious storm of wind 
 and Slow), we ran along the foot ot the hill in single 
 file. Along the first of our run, from palace gate, for 
 several hundred paces, there stood a range of insulated 
 buildings, which seemed to be store-houses ; we passed 
 these quickly in single file, pretty wide apart. 7"he 
 interstices were from thirty to fifty yards. In these 
 intervals we received a tremendous fire ot musketry 
 from the ramparts above us. Here we lost some brave 
 men, when powerless to return the salutes we received, 
 as the enemy was covered by his impregnable defences. 
 They were even sightless to us, we could see nothing 
 but the blaze from the muzzles of their muskets. 
 
 A number of vessels of various sizes lay along the 
 beach, moored by their hawsers or cables to the houses. 
 Pacing after my leader. Lieutenant Steele, at a great rate, 
 one of those ropes took me under the chin, and cast me 
 headlong down a declivity of at least fifteen feet. The 
 place appeared to be either a dry dock, or a sawpit. My 
 descent was terrible ; gun and all was involved in a great 
 depth of snow. Most unluckily, hoivever, one of my 
 knees received a violent contusion on a piece of scraggy 
 ice, which was covered by the snow. On like occasions, 
 we can scarce expect, in the hurry of attack, that our 
 intimates should attend to any other than their own 
 concerns. Mine went from me, regardless of my fate. 
 Scrabbling out of the cavity, without assistance, divesting 
 my person and gun of the snow, and limping into the 
 line, it was attempted to assume a station, and preserve 
 it. These were none of my friends — they knew me 
 not. We had not gone twenty yards, in my hobbling 
 gait, before I was thrown out, and compelled to await 
 the arrival of a chasm in the line, where a new place 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 109 
 
 might be obtained. Men in affairs such as this, seem 
 in the main to lose the compassionate feeling, and are 
 averse from being dislodged from their original stations. 
 We proceeded rapidly, exposed to a long line of fire from 
 the garrison, for now we were unprotected by any build- 
 ings. The fire had slackened in a small degree. The 
 enemy had been partly called off to resist the general, 
 and strengthen the party opposed to Arnold in our front. 
 Now we saw Colonel Arnold returning, wounded in the 
 leg, and supported by two gentlemen, a Parson Spring was 
 one, and in my belief, a Mr. Ogden the other. Arnold 
 called to the troops, in a cheering voice, as we passed, 
 urging us forward, yet it was observable among the 
 soldiery, with whom it was my misfortune to be now 
 placed, that the colonel's retiring damped their spirits. 
 A cant term, " We are sold," was repeatedly heard in 
 many parts throughout the line. Thus proceeding en- 
 filaded by an animated but lessened fire, we came to the 
 first barrier, where Arnold had been wounded in the 
 onset. This contest had lasted but a few minutes, and 
 was somewhat severe, but the energy of our men pre- 
 vailed. The embrasures were entered when the enemy 
 were discharging their guns. The guard, consisting of 
 thirty persons, were either taken or fled, leaving their 
 arms behind them. At this time it was discovered that 
 our guns were useless, because of the dampness. The 
 snow, which lodged in our fleecy coats, was melted by 
 the warmth of our bodies. Thence came that disaster. 
 Many of the party, knowing the circumstance, threw 
 aside their own, and seized the British arms. These 
 were not only elegant, but were such as befitted the 
 hand of a real soldier. It was said that ten thousand 
 stand of such arms had been received from England, in 
 the previous summer for arming the Canadian militia. 
 Those people were Icath to bear them in opposition to 
 our rights. From the first barrier to the second, there 
 was a circular course along the sides of houses, and 
 partly through a street, probably of three hundred yards, 
 10 
 
no Campaign against ^ebec^ '^11 S- 
 
 or more. This second barrier was erected across and 
 near the mouth of a narrow street, adjacent to the foot 
 of the hill, which opened into a larger, leading soon into 
 the main body of the lower town. Here it was, that 
 the most serious contention took place ; this became the 
 bone of strife. The admirable Montgomery, by this 
 time (though it was unknown to us), was no more ; yet, 
 we expected momentarily, to join him. The firing on 
 that side of the fortress ceased, his division fell under the 
 command of a Colonel Campbell, of the New York line, 
 a worthless chief, who retreated without making an effort, 
 in pursuance of the general's original plans. The inevit- 
 able consequence, was, that the whole of the forces on 
 that side of the city, and those who were opposed to the 
 dastardly persons employed to make the false attacks, 
 embodied and came down to oppose our division. Here 
 was sharp shooting. We were on the disadvantageous 
 side of the barrier, for such a purpose. Confined in a 
 narrow street hardly more than twenty feet wide, and 
 on the lower ground, scarcely a ball, well aimed or 
 otherwise, but must take effect upon us. Morgan, 
 Hendricks, Steele, Humphreys, and a crowd of every 
 class of the army, had gathered into the narrow pass, 
 attempting to surmount the barrier, which was about 
 twelve or more feet high, and so strongly constructed, 
 that nothing but artillery could effectuate its destruction. 
 There was a construction, fifteen or twenty yards within 
 the barrier, upon a rising ground, the cannon of which 
 much overtopped the height of the barrier, hence, we 
 were assailed, by grape shot in abundance. This erection 
 we called the platform. Again, within the barrier, and 
 close in to it, were two ranges of musketeers, armed with 
 musket and bayonet, ready to receive those who might 
 venture the dangerous leap. Add to all this, that the 
 enemy occupied the upper chambers of the houses, in 
 the interior of the barrier, on both sides of the street, 
 from the windows of which we became fair marks. 
 The enemy, having the advantage of the ground in front, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ I775- m 
 
 a vast superiority of numbers, dry and better arms, gave 
 them an irresistible power, in so narrow a space. Hum- 
 phrey's, upon a mound, which was speedily erected, 
 attended by many brave men, attempted to scale the 
 barrier, but was compelled to retreat, by the formidable 
 phalanx of bayonets within, and the weight of fire from 
 the platform and the buildings. Morgan, brave to 
 temerity, stormed and raged, Hendricks, Steele, Nichols, 
 Humphreys, equally brave, were sedate, though under a 
 tremendous fire. The platform, which was within our 
 view, was evacuated by the accuracy of our fire, and few 
 persons dared venture there again. Now it was, that 
 the necessity of the occupancy of the houses, on our side 
 of the barrier, became apparent. Orders were given by 
 Morgan, to that effect. We entered — this was near 
 daylight. The houses were a shelter, from which we 
 could fire with much accuracy. Yet, even here, some 
 valuable lives were lost. Hendricks,' when aiming his 
 rifle at some prominent person, died by a straggling ball, 
 through his heart. He staggered a ie\N feet backwards, 
 
 ' The second company from Pennsylvania was commanded by Captaia 
 William Hendricks, a native of Cumberland county, born two miles west 
 of tlie Susquehanna river at what was long known as Tobias Hendrick's place, 
 and latterly as Oyster's point. He was killed at Quebec January i, 1776, 
 and buried in the same enclosure with General Montgomery, on the south 
 side. The Rev. Dr. Smith, in his oration on the death of the gallant officer 
 last named, makes this allusion to the former : " I must not, however, 
 omit the name of the brave Captain Hendricks, who commanded one of the 
 Pennsylvania Rifle companies and was known to me from his infancy. 
 He was, indeed, prodigal of his life and counted danger out of his tour of 
 duty. The command of the guard belonged to him on the morning of the 
 attack ; but he solicited and obtained leave to take a more conspicuous part; 
 and having led his men through the barrier, where his commanding officer, 
 General Arnold was wounded, belong sustained the fire of the garrison with 
 unshaken firmness, till at last, receiving a shot in his breast, be immediately 
 expired. These particulars were certified by Gen. Thompson and Col. 
 Magaw, his commanders in the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, and they give 
 me this further character of him in their letter : 'No fatigues of duty ever 
 discouraged him ; he paid the strictest attention to his company and was 
 ambitious that they should excel in discipline, sobtiety and order. His social 
 and domestic virtues you are well acquainted with.' " — Dr. W. H. EgU. 
 
112 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 and fell upon a bed, where he instantly expired. He 
 was an ornament of our little society. The amiable 
 Humphreys died by a like kind of wound, but it was in 
 the street, before we entered the buildings. Many other 
 brave men fell at this place, among these were Lieutenant 
 Cooper, oi Connecticut, and perhaps fifty or sixty non- 
 commissioned officers, and privates. The wounded 
 were numerous, and many of them dangerously so. 
 Captain Lamb, of the York artillerists, had nearly one 
 half of his face carried away by a grape or canister shot. 
 My friend Steele- lost three of his fingers, as he was 
 presenting his gun to fire ; Captain Hubbard and Lieutenant 
 Fisdle, were also among the wounded. When we reflect 
 upon the whole of the dangers at this barricade, and the 
 formidable force that came to " annoy us, it is a matter 
 of surprise, that so many should escape death and 
 wounding, as did."' All hope of successhaving vanished, 
 a retreat was contemplated, but hesitation, uncertainty, 
 and a lassitude of mind, which generally takes place in 
 the affairs of men, when we fail in a project, upon which 
 we have attached much expectation, now followed. That 
 moment was foolishly lost, when such a movement might 
 have been made with tolerable success. Captain Laws, 
 at the head of two hundred men, issuing from palace gate, 
 most fairly and handsomely cooped us up. Many of the 
 men, aware of the consequences, and all our Lidians and 
 Canadians (except Natanis and another), escaped across 
 the ice which covered the bay of St. Charles, before the 
 arrival of Captain Laws. This was a dangerous and 
 desperate adventure, but worth while the undertaking, in 
 avoidance of our subsequent sufferings. Its desperate- 
 
 Of the other company officers Lt. John McClellan, who resided on the 
 Juniata died on the march to Quebec. Lt. Francis Nichols was captured 
 at Quebec ; after the war he was commissioned brigadier general in the 
 Pennsylvania forces. Dr. Thomas Gibson of Carlisle was also captured. He 
 died at Valley Forge in the memorable winter of 1778. — Il'iJ. 
 
 •See General Nichols's letter. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, IJJS- ^^3 
 
 ness consisted in running two miles across shoal ice, 
 thrown up by the high tides of this latitude — and its 
 danger, in the meeting with air holes, deceptively covered 
 by the bed of snow. 
 
 Speaking circumspectly, yet it must be admitted con- 
 jecturally, it seems to me, that in the whole of the 
 attack of commissioned officers, we had six killed, five 
 wounded, and of non-commissioned and privates, at least 
 one hundred and fifty killed, and fifty or sixty wounded. 
 Of the enemy, many were killed and many more 
 wounded, comparatively, than on our side, taking into 
 view the disadvantages we labored under ; and that but 
 two occasions happened when we could return their fire, 
 that is, at the first and second barriers. Neither the 
 American account of this affair, as published by congress, 
 nor that of Sir Guy Carleton, admit the loss of either 
 side to be so great as it really was, in my estimation. 
 It seems to be an universal practice among belligerents 
 of all nations, to lessen the number of the slain of the 
 side of the party which reports the event, and to increase 
 it on the part of the enemy. Having had pretty good 
 opportunities of forming a just opinion on the subject, it 
 is hoped that gentlemen who have thought or written 
 differently, will not disdain to listen to my argument. 
 As to the British, on the platform they were fair objects 
 to us. They were soon driven thence by the acuteness 
 of our shooting, which in our apprehension must have 
 destroyed many. Perhaps there never was a body of 
 men associated, who better understood the use and 
 manner of employing a rifle, than our corps, which by 
 this time of the attack, had their guns in good order. 
 When we took possession of the houses, we had a 
 greater range. Our opportunities to kill were enlarged. 
 Within one hundred yards every man must die. The 
 British, however, were at home — they could easily drag 
 their dead out of sight, and bear their wounded to the 
 hospital. It was the reverse with us. Captain Prentis, 
 who commanded the provost guards, would tell me of 
 
114 Campaign against ^e bee, 1775. 
 
 seven or eight killed, and fifteen or twenty wounded. 
 Opposed to this, the sentries (who were generally 
 Irishmen that guarded us with much simplicity, if not 
 honesty), frequently admitted of forty or fifty killed, and 
 many more wounded. The latter assertions accorded 
 with my opinion. The reasons for this belief are these : 
 when the dead, on the following days, were transported 
 on the carioles, passed our habitation for deposition in 
 the dead house we observed many bcdies of which 
 none of us had any knowledge -, and again when our 
 wounded were returned to us from the hospital, they 
 uniformly spoke of being surrounded there, in its many 
 chambers, by many of the wounded of the enemy. To 
 the great honor of General Carleton they were all, 
 whether friends or enemies, treated with like attention 
 and humanity. The reason why the wounded of our 
 side bore so small a proportion to the dead, seems to be 
 this : in the long course we ran from palace gate to the 
 first barrier, we lost many men who were killed out- 
 right, but many more died, who were merely wounded, 
 yet in such a manner as in a milder region to make the 
 case a curable one. A blow from a ball so large as that 
 of a musket, staggers a man, whether the wound be in 
 the arm, leg, or elsewhere ; if in staggering he falls, he 
 comes down into a deep bed of snow, from which a hale 
 man finds it very difficult to extricate himself. Five or 
 ten minutes struggling in such a bed, benumbs the 
 strongest man, as frequent experience has taught me j 
 if the party be wounded, though but slightly, twenty or 
 thirty minutes will kill him, not because of the severity 
 of the wound, but by the intensity of the frost. These 
 are my opinions, grounded on a tolerably distinct and 
 accurate knowledge of particular cases which occurred 
 in the first part of the attack, and a variety of inform- 
 ation obtained afterwards from individual sufferers, who 
 were persons of credibility, rescued from death by the 
 humane activity of Governor Carleton. About nine 
 o'clock, A.M., it was apparent to all of us that we must 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ I775- ^^5 
 
 surrender. It was done. On this occasion, my friend 
 General F. Nichols, by his own native spirit, persever- 
 ance and determined bravery, obtained an honorable 
 distinction, and acknowledgment from a brave and dis- 
 tinguished enemy. It enhances his merit and the boon 
 (when we reflect that that enemy was no other than 
 General Carleton), an ornament such as would grace 
 any nation, whether in the worst or best of times. Some 
 privates came to Lieutenant Nichols, and demanded his 
 sword ; the requisition was peremptorily denied, though 
 there was great risk in the refusal. He retained his 
 sword till meeting with Captain Endesly of the enemy, 
 to whom it was surrendered ; but with the exaction of 
 a promise that it should be returned when he, the cap- 
 tive, should be released. In the August following, 
 before our embarkation for New York, Captain Endesly 
 waited on Lieutenant Nichols, and in the presence of 
 all the American officers, redelivered the sword, under 
 the assurance that it was by the permission and com- 
 mand of General Carleton. This trait in the character 
 of Carleton adds to the celebrity of his derivation, and 
 manner of thinking, and casts into a dark ground the 
 characters of most of the principal British officers, par- 
 ticularly the Scotch, who had much influence in those 
 days and bore towards us an intemperate hatred. 
 
 The commissioned oflScers, and some of the cadets 
 were conducted to the seminary, a respectable building. 
 It became my lot, in one way or other, to be lost in the 
 crowd, and to be associated with the non-commissioned 
 officers, in the company of some of whom ardent and 
 perilous duties had been undergone. These men are 
 by no means to be lessened in character, by contrasting 
 them with the levies made in Europe, or those made 
 since that time in our own country. Many of our 
 sergeants, and even of our privates, were, with good 
 educations, substantial freeholders in our own country. 
 Upon a former occasion you were told the story of the 
 respectable Dixon. He possessed (if sordid wealth 
 
ii6 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^775- 
 
 makes the man), two-fold the riches of his captain ; and 
 if it be permitted me to decide upon the characters of 
 men, five-fold his understanding, activity and spirit. 
 Amiable Dixon ! Many of these men, in the progress of 
 the bloody scenes which ensued, became props of our 
 glorious cause, in defence of our sacred liberties. All 
 could be named. Let ^ few suffice. Thomas Boyd, 
 so often spoken ot in the wilderness for his good humor, 
 his activity and the intensity of his sufferings ; struggled 
 gloriously for his life as a captain, and died a dreadful 
 death by the hands of the savages in 1779, in the expedi- 
 tion conducted by General Sullivan against the Six-nation 
 Indians.' Charles Porterfield, who lost his life in the 
 
 ' The death of niy friend Boyd vva^ to me as a thunderbolt; painful in 
 an excessive degree ; many a tear has since been shed to his manes. In 
 the autumn of 1779, ^^ commanded a company of rifle-men of the first 
 Pennsylvania regiment. When Sullivan had penetrated into the Seneca 
 country, in the neighborhood of the Genesee river, Boyd, as my inform- 
 ation is from various gentlemen, was ordered with a hand of twenty choice 
 men, before daylight to make an excursion towards an Indian village, on 
 the river Genesee (which flows north into Lake Ontario), at a distance of 
 eight miles, for the purpose of making discoveries. In his return, arriving 
 at a rising ground, a knoll, he lieard a rustling of the leaves in his front : 
 an enemy was suspected ; he gathered his men around him, each taking 
 his tree. The enemy was sightless to Boyd and his party, yet the approach 
 around him was sensible to every one. Boyd, not knowing the number of 
 his assailants, it is said, considered them as a small body of observation. 
 This party of Indians, probably one thousand, encompassed Boyd and his 
 men, gradually : a defence worthy of the character of Boyd took place. 
 Every man he had was killed, except three, who broke through the Indians, 
 and brought the doleful tidings to our camp. Boyd was taken, and carried 
 alive to the Indiantown, where he was tortured after their savage custom, 
 and his body mangled in the most horrible manner. General Simpson, 
 who was then with the army, assures me that on the following day, when 
 the troops arrived at the town, in the wigwams, they found a number of 
 fresh scalps stretched in the usual manner on small hoops, and painted. 
 The head of Boyd lay in one of the cabins, newly dissevered. His scalp 
 was still moist and hooped and painted. Simpson knew it by its long 
 brown and silky hair : it is now preserved as a relic of our friend. An 
 officer (Captain A. Henderson), lately, in describing this unequal but 
 arduous fight, upon the part of Boyd, told me, "that the hands of the dead 
 men, in many instances, were fast closed upon the hair of Indians." 
 
 To give you a more perfect idea of the brutality of savage torture, and of 
 heart-rending sensations, I can do no better than to lay before you the 
 
Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. '*7 
 
 battle of Camden, when in the station of a colonel. 
 Joseph Aston, of Lamb's, who served his country 
 throughout the war, and was promoted to a majority. 
 Doctor Thomas Gibson, of Hendricks', who died in the 
 performance of his duty, at the Valley Forge, in the 
 winter of 1778. Robert Cunningham, a wealthy free- 
 holder of Smith's, who here imbibed the seeds of that 
 disorder, which, at too early an age, hurried him to the 
 grave. He was a younger brother of that excellent 
 
 letter of the Honorable Thomas Campbell, of the senate, who himself has 
 been a martyr in our cause. He saw the corpse of the unfortunate Boyd 
 on the following day, and interred it. Since the death of Colonel Craw- 
 ford we know nothing like the present martyrdom, in the cause of liberty ; 
 and it is to be hoped, from the prudence and strength of the federal go- 
 vernment, nothing of the kind will again occur in our future wars with the 
 aborigines of our country. 
 
 " Senate Chamber, Lancaster, 
 
 ^'■January ^otb, 1 809. 
 "Sir, 
 
 " Captain Lieutenant Thomas Boyd, belonging to the riflemen of the 
 state of Pennsylvania, was most inhumanly murdered by the Indians. His 
 death occurred on the i 3th day of September, 1779, at the Genesee Castle, 
 on General Sullivan's expedition to the northwestward, against the Six- 
 nation Indians." 
 
 " He was sent on the night of the 12th of September, from the camp, 
 near a lake called ' Conesus,' with a party of men, consisting of twenty 
 soldiers, five volunteers and an Indian chief, named Han-Jost, belonging 
 to the Oneida nation : in all twenty-seven in number. They were sent by 
 General Sullivan to reconnoitre an Indian town, supposed to be about 
 six miles distant from the camp. On the morning of the 12th of September, 
 the army took up the line of march bffore sunrise, but marching a short 
 distance, was obliged to halt, till the pioneers made a bridge over a morass, 
 otherwise the cannon could not have been brought up. The town that 
 Captain Boyd was taken to, was evacuated by all except two Indians, one 
 was on horseback, the other was leading a cow. James Elliot and Timothy 
 Murphy were sent to stop them, they both discharged their guns at the 
 same time, the one that led the cow was killed, the other, though severely 
 wounded, escaped. Boyd returning slowly, expecting to meet the army, saw 
 an Indian start up and run off. It was with great difficulty that Boyd 
 stopped the men from pursuit, at the request of Han-Jost, who said the Indian 
 was only a runner, sent to draw them into an ambuscade. Eighteen of the 
 soldiers were killed, and Han-Jost the Oneida chief, was made a greater 
 sacrifice than any of the white men who fell or were taken at that place. 
 
 *' Captain Boyd and Michael Parker were made prisoners, and taken to 
 the Genesee Castle, and there most inhumanly murdered. Boyd's head 
 
ii8 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 citizen, and frequent representative of the people of the 
 county of Lancaster, James Cunningham. In short, 
 many others might be mentioned in the general, as worthy 
 and well informed as their superiors, without in anywise, 
 imputing to the latter, in so saying, the slightest degree 
 of disparagement. This will always be the case, when 
 the great body of a nation rises in its strength to defend 
 its rights. Those who understand the point in question, 
 in a national dispute, and are most strongly impressed 
 
 was taken off and totally skinned, his right eye was taken out, as also his 
 tongue. His right foot, from the ball of the heel to the toes, was laid 
 open as if with a knife. He was cut open across the bottom of his belly, 
 and his bowels were taken out, and a very long knife was sticking in be- 
 tween his shoulders, descending to the vital parts. This seems to have 
 been the coup de grace. 
 
 " General Simpson and myself, were sent to see the corpse of Boyd in- 
 terred. I spread a blanket on the ground beside him, we then turned the 
 corpse over on it. I took the head of the deceased, and put it as near the 
 neck as possible. I procured a needle and thread from one of the tailors, 
 and sewed the corpse up as well as 1 could. As to the head of Michael 
 Parker, it could not be found. All the flesh was cut out from his shoulders 
 downward, and otherwise his body was most inhumanly mangled. 
 
 «' We interred the corpses of both, near the Genesee Castle, in separate 
 graves, on the 14th day of September, 1779. 
 " I am Sir, 
 
 Your humble servant 
 
 Thomas Campbell. 
 Late a captain of the fourth 
 
 Pennsylvania regiment." 
 "To the Hon. John Jos. Henry." 
 
 Though we have no account from an eye witness, of the barbarous manner 
 in which Captain Boyd was tortured, yet we may conceive from the ap- 
 pearance of his body, that the most malignant and hellish pains were ex- 
 ercised upon it. The being emboweled, conveys an idea of a known mode 
 of Indian torment ; the fixing an end of the entrails to the stake, and 
 compelling the prisoner by fire and blows to run till the conglomerated 
 mass is expended. Upon the subject of these tortures, look at Dr. 
 Colden's History of the Mohawks, and Judge Smith's History of Neio York. 
 
 Colonel Campbell is of opinion, that the wound along the sole of Captain 
 Boyd's foot, was made before the savages brought him to their (castle) or 
 village. His reason is, that the wound was filled with bits of rotten 
 branches of wood, and small pieces of leaves. The conjecture may be 
 true, as Indian punishment, at its acme, is to give the greatest degree of 
 pain. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775- 119 
 
 with its importance, will be the first to arm. This has 
 been, and ever will be, the disposition of men in all 
 ages, past or to come, whenever their privileges are 
 invaded. Offices of prime importance cannot be ob- 
 tained by all. Men of talents, of genius and courage 
 must step into subordinate stations. Socrates, Alcibiades 
 and Demosthenes fought in the ranks. 
 
 God in his great goodness grant, in the future 
 vicissitudes of the world, that our countrymen, whenever 
 their essential rights shall be attacked, will divest them- 
 selves of all party prejudice, and devote their lives and 
 properties in defence of the sacred liberties of their 
 country, without any view to emolument, but that which 
 springs from glorious and honorable actions. Pardon 
 me for frequent digression, upon this subject particularly, 
 as my whole soul was bound up in our cause, you must 
 forgive me. The real apology is, we were, all of us, 
 enthusiastic whigs. 
 
 When under guard, in the morning of the first of 
 January, Colonel M'Dougal, a Scotch gentleman, near 
 noon, came to review us ; his person was known to me 
 at Detroit, as an intimate of an uncle, three years before 
 this time. The colonel was naturally polite and kind- 
 hearted. When it came to my turn to be examined, as 
 to name, place of birth, etc., besides making the proper 
 answers to his inquiries, I was emboldened to declare 
 that he was known to me. He seemed surprised, but 
 not displeased ; a request was immediately added *■'• that 
 he would order me to be transferred to the quarters of 
 the officers." " No, my dear boy," said he, " you had 
 better remain where you are ; the officers, as you are in 
 rebellion, may be sent to England, and there be tried 
 for treason." The advice of this venerable veteran 
 made an impression on my mind, which was then agitated 
 bv a thousand vagrant thoughts, and involved in doubt 
 and uncertainty as to our destination. We then well 
 
I20 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 5- 
 
 knew of the voyage of Colonel Ethan Allen to England, 
 and the manner of it ;' and that of George Merchant, 
 
 'Of the treatment of Ethan Allen, at the time spoken of, we know 
 nothing but from report, which we then thought well. grounded, and the 
 truth of which, at this day, there is no reason to doubt. He was a man 
 of much peculiarity of character. Large, powerful of body, a most ferocious 
 temper (fearing neither God nor man), of a most daring courage, and a 
 pertinacity of disposition, which was unconquerable, and very astonishing 
 in all his undertakings : withal he had the art of making himself beloved, 
 and revered by all his followers. When he was taken in the Isle of 
 Montreal, in 1775, the government found it necessary to confine him in a 
 cage, as one would a wild beast, and thus aboard ship, he was transported 
 to Quebec. What his treatment was during this voyage to England, is 
 unknown to me. 
 
 This, however, is known, that for many years he was a prisoner in Eng- 
 land, returning from his captivity to America, he brought with him a 
 manuscript, which he afterwards entitled The Oracle of' Reason. My 
 beloved children, it is the farthest from my thought to confine your know- 
 ledge to narrow bounds; when you dip into scriptural history, dip deep, do 
 not skim the surface of the subject, as many fools have done of late days. 
 Upon a thorough inquiry, your hearts will be animated by a conviction 
 that there came a Saviour to redeem you from eternal perdition, and to 
 provide for you an eternal salvation and state ot happiness. 
 
 That book was most certainly the composition of Ethan Allen. He was 
 very illiterate j he did not know the orthography of our language. The 
 extent of his learning, probably bounded by some historic chronicles, and 
 a few other books of little account, did not go beyond the scriptures. The 
 gentleman who gave me the above information, was an elegant scholar, bred 
 at Harvard college. Going to New York in the summer of 1786. a friend, 
 from mere curiosity, requested me to purchase the book for him. Being 
 detained at New York six weeks by business, I frequently looked into the 
 detestable volume. The argument if so diabolical a work can be said to 
 contain argument, was in general arranged, and conducted in the same 
 manner as the ^ge of Reason, but in a coarser, and yet a more energetic 
 language, than that of the latter work. On my return to Philadelphia, in 
 a conversation with the Vermontese gentleman, who was still there, Ethan 
 Aliens Bihle, became a topic of discourse. He gave me this curious an- 
 ecdote which he averred upon his honor to be true. A young gentleman, 
 either a scholar of Harvard or Yale college, had come into Vermont, and 
 there taught a school. Allen labored under the want of an amanuensis 
 and transcriber of knowledge and learning. The scholar, to increase his 
 emoluments, became such. Allen attended him daily, standing, staffin hand, 
 at the back of the young man's chair. " Sir," he would say to Allen, " this 
 word is misspelled." "Amend it." Again, "this word is misplaced, the 
 sense is incorrect," etc. Allen, who was most profane, would swear (some- 
 times raising his staff) " By G** sir, you shall insert it; you shall not alter 
 it." Thus the Oracle of Reason came into the world ; which, of all books, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 121 
 
 our fellow soldier, but the consequences were unknown. 
 It became my determination to take the fatherly advice 
 
 is the most bluntly vicious, as regards the well-being of society ; the salva- 
 tion of souls J and the happiness of those who have faith in the redemption 
 by the blood of our Saviour. But that which is very remarkable, is, that 
 long after the publication of Allen's book, which had fallen into oblivion, 
 even with its readers, that vile reprobate, Thomas Paine, loaded with every 
 crime which stains and dishonors the Christian and the gentleman (in ad- 
 dition to his shameful practices in life, Paine, as an author, superadded 
 plagiarism), filched from Ethan Allen the great body of his deistical and 
 atheistical opinions, which from the time of Celsus, down to the age of 
 Chubb, Tindal and others, have been so often refuted by men of the utmost 
 respectability of character and fame. When we reflect upon the vicissitudes 
 of this world, its immense revolutions in temporal affairs, the awful perse- 
 cutions which occurred in early times, the collisions of opinion and party 
 rage, in the article of religious belief; and the vast body of martyrs who 
 devoted their lives in support of their faith, 'we must believe that there is 
 something more than ordinary j something really divine in the system of 
 our religion, springing from God himself. In the last ages, we know of 
 many of both sexes, of the soundest and best instructed minds, whom it is 
 almost needless to name, unless it be merely for the purpose of opposing 
 their virtues and characters to persons of a different mode of thinking. 
 All of them possessed a firm and solid credence in the celestial origin of 
 our holy faith, and some of them sealed their creed with their blood. 
 When such men suffer because of principle, some reliance should be placed 
 on their good sense and knowledge. The terms enthusiasm and madness, 
 have been too often coupled, as conveying the same idea. George Fox, 
 Captain Meade, and William Penn, have been called enthusiastic madmen, 
 but we now know that they acted through the course of the religious parts 
 of their lives, from a conviction of the principles of the gospel, being 
 genuine and absolutely true. However, on this subject, but a few names 
 need be repeated to convey to your minds its importance and solemnity. 
 Many of the greatest men, as it concerns worldly things, were Christians. 
 John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Cranmer, 
 Hooker, Tillotson, of the clergy ; of the laity. Sir Thomas Moore, Sir 
 Matthew Hale, Spangenberg, Mosheim, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, 
 Lord Henry Littleton, Soame Jenyns, and thousands of others, all men of 
 profound learning, have testified by their lives and writings, a reliance on 
 the merits of the redemption by the blood of Christ Jesus. But when we 
 find those men supported ai.d reinforced by two of the strongest minded 
 men that ever lived. Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke, who can doubt.' 
 When we contrast their opinions with those of Hobbs, Chubb, Henry St. 
 John, Voltaire, J. J. Rousseau, Beringer, the great Frederick of Prussia, 
 or Mr. Gibbon, how deeply do the last not sink, by the weight of reason 
 and argument } Allen and Paine are paltry wretches, mere scribblers, if 
 classed with the men last named. Those were beautiful writers, whose 
 language fascinates, but corrupts the youthful mind, these are dull plodders, 
 11 
 
122 Camfaign against ^ebeCy 1775. 
 
 of Colonel JVl'Douga), for it was really delivered in the 
 parental style, and to adhere to it. He brought one of 
 
 who knew not the principles of their mother tongue ; but it is perhaps 
 from the circumstance of illiterateness, that Allen and Paine have attacked 
 Christianity in so gross and indecorous a manner. The maniac Paine, when 
 confined in the prison, Conciergerie, at Paris, seems to boast "that he kept 
 no bible." This may be true. But the expression shows that his proper 
 place, instead of a common jail, should have been a mad-house. 
 
 It shows, however, a vanity of mind beyond the bearing of men of under- 
 standing. Indeed he was inflated by a supercilious pride, and an imaginary 
 importance, which made his society undesirable. He was one of that class 
 of men who, with a small spice of learning, in company, domineered as 
 if he had been a Johnson. He was almost unbearable to many men, who 
 patronized him because of the good effect of his works during the revolu- 
 tion. To give you a (fw instances j the late David Rittenhouse, Esq., 
 one of the most amiable, most ingenious and best of men, treasurer of the 
 state, George Bryan, Esq., the vice-president of the council, a man of great 
 reading and much good sense, Jonathan Sergeant, the attorney general of 
 Pennsylvania, whose oratorical powers could scarcely be surpassed, and 
 your grand-father, and many other gentlemen of character, during the course 
 of the years '77, '78 and '79, were in habits of intimacy with him, but his 
 dogmatic disposition and obstinacy of mind, frequently caused great disgust. 
 Again, Colonel Samuel John Attlee, an excellent patriot, and a man of 
 note among us, both in the military and civil capacities of a citizen, gave 
 this anecdote to me, a few months after the occurrence happened. Though 
 all the gentlemen present, approved of the writings of Paine, as they con- 
 cerned our political state, for they were all of them to a man, good whigs, 
 yet they abhorred him, because of his personal aberrations from virtue, and 
 the decencies of social life. A Mr. Mease of Philadelphia, who was clothier 
 general, had invited a number of gentlemen of the army, then in the city, 
 to dine with him. Among whom were Colonel Attlee, Colonel Francis 
 Johnson, General Nicliols, and many members of the legislature of whom 
 there was Matthias Slough of Lancaster. You may readily suppose, that 
 the excellent wine of Mr. Mease exhilerated the company. When return- 
 ing to their lodgings. Colonel Attlee observed Paine coming towards them 
 down Market-street. There comes " Common Sense," says Attlee to the 
 company. " Damn him," says Slough, " I shall common sense him." As 
 he approached the party, they took the wall. Mr. Slough tripped him, 
 and threw him on his back into a gutter, which at that time was very 
 offensive and filthy. 
 
 This is told, to communicate a trait to you, in the character of Thomas 
 Paine, who did some good, but a vast deal of harm to mankind, *' that the 
 very people who were most benefited by his literary labors, hated him." 
 The company I have spoken of, were all men of eminence in the state j 
 men who staked their all on the issue of the revolution. The writings of 
 Paine as concerns us, are many of them handsomely worded, have pith and 
 much sivengiii or argun ent. .xni art in gentral correct, yet his doni'stJc 
 
Campaign against Quebec, ^77 S' ^^3 
 
 his sons, whom I had formerly known, to see me on the 
 following day. About mid-day we were escorted to a 
 
 life and manners were so very incorrect, that a disgust, which was perhaps 
 right, destroyed every favorable personal feeling towards him. His in- 
 delicacy was intolerable. His numbers of Common Sense, the Crisis, and 
 some other of his fugitive pieces, every American who recollects those 
 " trying times," must acknowledge to have been extremely beneficial to 
 our cause. This has often been admitted by our Generals Washington, 
 Gates, Greene, etc., but he was compensated, and had the secretaryship 
 for foreign affairs. Like all men of bad principles, he betrayed his trust, 
 and a virtuous congress displaced him, yet the different states more than 
 remunerated him for all his writings. 
 
 So it is, that that man who was without virtue, a disturber of society, 
 an ill husband, an unworthy citizen, cloaked by every vice, would now by 
 his ^ge of Reason, which he stole from the ignorant Ethan Allen, 
 who was as iniquitous as himself, destroy the peace of mind, and all the 
 hope of happiness in futurity, of those who rely on the redemption of their 
 souls by the blood of Christ 5 and that, without substituting, or even sug- 
 gesting, any other manner of faith, tending to quiet the minds of sinners. 
 I knew Paine well, and that personally, for he lodged in the house of my 
 father, during the time that Generals Howe and Clinton were in Philadel- 
 phia. His host often regretted the entertainment he gave him. His 
 manners were in opposition and hostile to the observances of the proprieties 
 and due ordinances of social life. Many who approved of his political 
 writings abominated his detestable mode of living and acting. 
 
 [I am justified in using these expressions, by an occurrence in 1794, 
 with my own mother. She was a woman of strong understanding, and of 
 unfeigned and rigid belief in the truths of gospel-history, yet a dispassionate, 
 placid and mild religionist. Her heart was so free from thinking ill of any 
 one, that of a truth of her it might be said " she knew no guile." One 
 day going to a bookseller's in Lancaster, I met with an extract in the shape 
 of a pamphlet of Doctor Joseph Priestley's History of the Corruption of 
 Christianity. Never having seen any of that gentleman's polemic works, 
 it was purchased. My mother as usual came in in the evening, to sit and 
 converse with my family. I was reading the pamphlet. " What have you 
 got ? " '' A work of Doctor Priestley's on religion." I was then at the 
 chapter of the ''Doctrine of the Atonement of Christ," for the sins of the 
 world. The title of the chapter excited the attention of my mother. 
 Before she came in the passage had been partly perused, and she eagerly 
 asked me " to read the whole of it to her." I began, but had scarcely pro- 
 ceeded through two or three pages, when she rapped the book from my 
 hands, and threw it into the fire, where it was most deservedly burned. 
 Smilingly, I said " mother, why do you destroy my^ book ? " The reply was 
 with an observable degree of anger : '' Because your book would destroy my 
 happiness, in this and the world to come ! I know that I have a Savior, 
 who redeemed me, whose blood was shed upon the cross for me : of this, 
 I am convinced. Your book goes to make me doubt of the merits of the 
 
124 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 ruinous monastery of the order of St. Francis, called the 
 Regu/iers. It was an immense quadrangular building, 
 
 sufferings of that Savior. The book would deprive me of the only staff 
 upon which my hope of salvation rests, and gives me none other, upon 
 which I can lean." These notions of my beloved mother, which accorded 
 fully with my own, on that topic, were submitted to with a juvenile frank- 
 ness which pleased her, and of all the world I knew none whom I so 
 much wished to oblige, as that dear, amiable and instructive mother. My 
 father had been a mechanic of much respectability, and great skill. 
 During the war usually called " Braddock's war," and afterwards in Forbes's 
 campaign (in 1758), he was at the head of the armory, which in those 
 days was no mean station, and required talents of a superior grade. 
 Afterwards, having made a tolerable fortune, he entered into trade, but 
 his inclinations led him into chemical experiments. His evenings and, 
 mornings were devoted to the laboratory. This gave rise to my mother's 
 acquaintance with Mr. Priestley, as an experimental philosopher. For the 
 instruction of his children, my father would discourse upon the subjects of 
 science and particularly of chemistry, which was his favorite theme, and in 
 which the names of Franklin and Priestley were sure to stand foremost. 
 My beloved parent's manner showed me that she was stung to the quick. 
 My apology to her, had the desired effect, as her curiosity and mine 
 sprung from similar motives, " a desire to know the religious opinions of a 
 man of whom we had had superlative ideas," because of his acquirements 
 in many other branches of knowledge. 
 
 The position wished to be proved to you, by this relation which is true, 
 is " that for the sake of public and private comfort and genial happiness, it 
 is better not to disturb the devout mind by fanciful and newfangled schemes 
 of belief and that those should be open only to the eyes of the learned." 
 My mother was a person of extensive reading ; her religious tenets and 
 faith were solely grounded on the scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, as these, in her mind, were considered as clearly correct, but 
 nevertheless she was fearful of a disturbance of her mind by the quirks 
 and quibbles of deistical scribblers. Therefore to interfere with her 
 devotional principles, in so rude and heterodox a manner, tended to derange 
 her charming mind, and devastate those elegant maxims of Christian belief, 
 which the excellency of her maternal education had infused into her heart ; 
 in short, to destroy that firmness with which she relied on the merits and 
 sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
 
 Such men as Hobbs, Chubb, etc., seem not to have reflected on the 
 dreadful ills and calamities their writings would create, if their books came 
 into general circulation. If they did reflect, posterity ought to consider 
 them to have been the tigers and hyenas of human society, opposed to the 
 well being of the humarvrace. Voltaire and John James Rousseau, in my 
 humble opinion, intended well to the people of France, but when speaking 
 of those gentlemen, we should recollect that they, as well as the virtuous 
 and celebrated Montesquieu, were the subjects of a prince who might, if he 
 pleased, be despotic : but that which was still worse, was, that the people 
 
Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. ^^5 
 
 containing, within its interior bounds, half an acre or 
 more, of an area, which seemed to be like a garden or 
 
 were abandoned to the control of a theological aristocracy — bigoted, 
 wealthy, imperious and scandalously subjected to vices, in many instances, 
 greater than those of laymen, insomuch that in the reign of Louis XIV, 
 because of the infamous lives, and the oppressions of all classes of the 
 nation by the clergy, there was scarcely a gentleman in the kingdom, who 
 was not deistically inclined. For when the ministers of a religion of so 
 high sanctity, as that of our Holy Faith, demean themselves in a manner 
 which evinces to laymen their want of confidence in the religion (which 
 they had been consecrated to propagate and enforce), by an unholy life and 
 conduct, particularly in their cruel exactions from devotees ; in the latter 
 instance, of enormous fees, and various demands of tithes of a most 
 exorbitant nature, which from time to time, they wickedly usurped. 
 Hence, it arose that Montesqueiu, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, and 
 hundreds of others, of the learned men of France (considering the state of 
 that government), formed a phalanx of historic knowledge, genuine 
 reasoning, true wit, and an inexhaustible fund of humor, which slurred 
 their opponents to such a degree, as in the minds ot the generality of Europe 
 gave them a deserved victory even over the government, which supported 
 the theocracy, with its vast power. It also, most probably, came from 
 thence, that those men under the clerical persecutions raised against them 
 ( for many we'e confined in the dungeons), in the heat of controversy, 
 emitted opinions and ideas inconsistent with our pure, simple and holy 
 religion, according to the Augsburg creed, which we know has been adopted, 
 either in the whole or in part, by all the reformed churches. In polemic 
 disputes, and perhaps more particularly in those which happened in 
 monarchies, there is an acrimony and irascibility of temper, inflaming the 
 minds of men generally, greater than is the case in democracies. The 
 cause seems to be, that in monarchies the priesthood becomes a machine 
 of government, in democracies it is the vehicle by which the people 
 simply adore God. 
 
 Those controversies, between the so styled philosophers of France and 
 the clergy, were conducted with such hatred and obloquy towards each 
 other, that they elicited sparks which enkindled that nation in a dreadful 
 flame of internal destruction j and the brand has not only communicated 
 itself to all Europe, but in general to the world at large. Since the time 
 of Julius Caesar, nothing has occurred equal in barbarity, irruption, bloodshed, 
 murder, by public or domestic treason, as that which has happened in 
 Europe, since the year 1789. Gracious and omnipotent God, restore the 
 peace of the world ! ! !] 
 
 Such is the man who, upon his slight intercourse with the American 
 people, pluming himself with the well-earned celebrity of his political pieces, 
 that now presumes to become a reformer of our morals, our religious opin- 
 ions and thinkings on Divine subjects. He himself a reprobate, cloaked by 
 every vice, would dictate to a great and independent Christian people, their 
 formulary of belief. Such insolence and presumption was never before 
 
126 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^775- 
 
 shrubbery. The monks, priests or what not, who in- 
 habited the house, must have been few in number, as 
 
 witnessed unless it was in the instance of Mahomet, or in those of the im- 
 postures (such as Sabbati ^evi), who frequently as Messias, appeared to de- 
 ceive the remnant of the Jewish people. Paine with all his other vices had 
 a foible injurious to our country. To keep up the spirits of- the people it 
 was requisite that there should be a series of patriotic publications. Paine 
 was the most indolent of men ; if he was inspired by a muse, the 
 goddess most certainly made him but few visits. The office of secretary 
 of foreign affairs, was conferred upon him, because of the merit of his 
 Common Sense, or what are called the C'ists, under the signature to 
 Common Sense. It was to him personally a sinecure. He never went 
 to York (Penn. ), where congress then sat, but occasionally, and stayed but 
 a day or two. His true employment was that of a political writer. In 
 the summer and winter of 1777, and 1778, he was an inmate of my 
 father's house, as were the late David Rittenhouse, the state-treasurer, and 
 John Hart, a member of the then executive council. 
 
 Paine would walk of a morning until twelve o'clock ; come in and make 
 an inordinate dinner. The rising from table was between two and three 
 o'clock. He would then retire to his bed-chamber, wrap a blanket around 
 him, and in a large arm-chair, take a nap, of two or three hours — rise and 
 walk. These walks, and his indolence, surprised my parents ; they knew 
 him as the author of Common Sense, who had written patriotically, and 
 in those writings, promulged some moral and religious ideas, which induced 
 them to believe he was an orthodox Christian. Indeed Paine, during the 
 revolution, was careful to emit no irreligious dogmas, or any of his late dia- 
 bolic ideas ; if he had, the good sense of the American people, their virtue, 
 and unfeigned worship of the Deity, would have^ in those days, banished 
 him from their country. Your grandfather's feelings a few months before 
 his death (which occurred on the 15th of December, 1786), when speak- 
 ing of the unbeliever (Paine), were truly poignant; for now the wretch's 
 true character had began to open on the world. He lamented with tears 
 that he had ever admitted him into his house, or had a personal acquaint- 
 ance and intercourse with him. He was, from conviction, a sincere Christ- 
 ian, converted by the scriptures; of a strong mind, and of a most tender 
 conscience. 
 
 Do not permit anything now said, to induce you to undervalue the saga- 
 city of my father, for he was wise ; but of so benevolent a mind, that in 
 the common affairs of life he held a principle in morality as true, which 
 is by no mean generally received ; to wit, "That we should consider every 
 one as possessing probity, until we discover him to be otherwise." Other 
 gentlemen think differently. However, it may well be maintained that 
 the side my father took on this topic, which I have often heard argued, 
 accords with the true spirit of the gospel, the other side is stoicism. From 
 these last observations, you will readily perceive how easy it was to impose 
 on my father. This is the reason for his entertaining Paine. I have said 
 that Paine was in indolent. Take this as an instance ; the Crisis, No. V, 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ '775- ^^7 
 
 for my part, not more than half a dozen of distinct faces 
 came into my view while we staid here. We entered 
 by the ground floor (that is by the cellar), the building 
 on that side being built on the declination of the hill, 
 which in this part of the city is very uneven. The 
 apartments on our right, as we entered, seemed to be 
 filled with governmental stores, and of provisions of all 
 kinds. They made us ascend a large staircase into an 
 upper story, where we were complimented with two 
 sides, or rather a part of each of the two sides of the 
 quadrangle. The whole building would have accomo- 
 dated four thousand men. Monkish spirit must have 
 
 is but a short political essay, to be sure of great skill in the composition, of 
 much eloquent invective, strong reasoning, some historic anecdote, and a 
 fund of ridicule which fitted the passions of the times. But recollect 
 that this piece, to Paine, was a labor of three months in the inditing. It 
 was written in my father's house. Mr. Rittenhouse inhabited the front 
 room, in the upper story, where was the library. There he kept the 
 office of the treasury of Pennsylvania. The room of Mr. Hart and Paine, 
 was to the left hand as you come to the stair-head entering the library. 
 
 When my wound in 1778 was so far mended, that hobbling on crutches, 
 or by creeping up stairs (as you may have seen me of late years do), my 
 greatest recreation in my distressed state of mind was to get into the cham- 
 ber of Mr. Rittenhouse where the books were. There, his conversation, 
 (for he was most affable), enlivened my mind, and the books would so 
 amuse it, that it became calm, and some desperate resolutions were dis- 
 solved. While that excellent man was employing his hours in the duties 
 of his office, for the benefit of the people, Paine would be snoring away his 
 precious time in his easy chair, regardless of those injunctions imposed upon 
 him by congress, in relation to his political compositions. His remissness, 
 indolence or vacuity of thought, caused great heart-burning among many 
 primary characters in those days. I have heard the late George Bryan, 
 Esq., then vice-president of the council, speak of his gross neglects with 
 remarkable harshness. I would sometimes go into Paine's room, and sit 
 with him. His Crisis, No. V, lay on his table, dusted j to-day three or 
 four lines would be added, in the course of a week, a dozen more, and so 
 on. No. V, is dated 21st March, 1778, but it was not published until some 
 months after that date, and it was generally thought by good whigs, that 
 it had been too long delayed. For my own part, I was so passionately en- 
 gaged at heart, in the principles of our cause, that Paine's manner of living 
 and acting, gave me a high disgust towards him. No idea could enter my 
 mind, that any one in that njjble struggle could be idle or disengaged. As 
 to myself, my sensations were such, that the example of a Decius might 
 have been renewed. — Henry. 
 
128 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 been in high vogue, when so great a pile could be erected 
 merely from the alms of the people, and that too, for so 
 egregiously absurd a purpose. The ranges of the rooms, 
 though extensive in the length of the galleries, were 
 small in their size, being scarcely more than ten by 
 twelve or fourteen feet. The galleries were about twelve 
 feet wide ; many rooms were comfortable, others were 
 dilapidated. Ten or a dozen of our poor fellows were 
 compressed into one of these small rooms. So much 
 the better, as it served to keep them the warmer. Boyd, 
 Cunningham and a few of our intimates, took possession 
 of a room near a large stove. The first week we slept 
 most uncomfortably. Gracious God ! what did we not 
 suffer. 
 
 It was now that we fully learnt the destinies of our 
 dear and revered general and his companions in death. 
 But allow me before the detail of that sad story, to give 
 you an anecdote. The merchants of Quebec, like those 
 of England and our country, are a spirited ana generous 
 sect in society ; they applied to Governor Carleton, and 
 obtained leave to make us a " New Year's gift." This 
 turned o'ut to be no other than a large butt of porter, at- 
 tended by a proporti- nate quantity of bread and cheese. 
 It was a present which exhilerated our hearts and drew 
 from us much thankfulness. We shared more than a 
 pint per man. 
 
 General Montgomery had marched at the precise time 
 stipulated, and had arrived at his destined place of attack, 
 nearly about the time we attacked the first barrier. He 
 was not one that would loiter. Colonel Campbell,' of 
 the New-York troops, a large good-looking man, who 
 was second in command of that party, and was deemed 
 a veteran, accompanied the army to the assault ; his 
 station was rearward, General Montgomery with his 
 aids, were at the point of the column. 
 
 ' This was not my friend Col. Thomas Campbell of York (Penn.). He 
 was fighting the battles of our country at Boston. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- ^^9 
 
 It is impossible to give you a fair and complete idea 
 of the nature and situation of the place solely with the 
 pen, the pencil is required. As by the special per- 
 mission of government, obtained by the good offices ot 
 Captain Prentis, in the summer following, Boyd, a few 
 others and myself reviewed the causes of our disaster, 
 it is therefore in my power, so far as my abilities will 
 permit, to give you a tolerable notion of the spot. Cape 
 Diamond nearly resembles the great jutting rock which 
 is in the narrows at Hunter's falls, on the Susquehanna. 
 The rock, at the latter place, shoots out as steeply as 
 that at Quebec, but by no mean forms so great an angle 
 on the margin of the river ; but is more craggy. There 
 is a stronger and more obvious difference in the com- 
 parison. When you surmount the hill at St. Charles, 
 or the St. Lawrence side, which, to the eye are equally 
 high and steep, you find on Abraham's plains, and upon 
 an extensive champaign country. The birds-eye view 
 around Quebec bears a striking conformity to the sites 
 of Northumberland and Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania ; but 
 the former is on a more gigantic scale, and each of the 
 latter want the steepness and craggyness of the back 
 ground, and a depth of rivers. This detail is to instruct 
 you in the geographical situation of Quebec, and for the 
 sole purpose of explaining the manner of General Mont- 
 gomery's death, and the reasons of our failure. From 
 Wolf's cove there is a good beach down to, and around 
 " Cape Diamond." The bulwarks of the city came to 
 the edge of the hill above that place. Thence down 
 the side of the precipice slantingly to the brink of the 
 river there was a stockade of strong posts, fifteen or 
 twenty feet high, kn't together by a stout railing at 
 bottom and top with pins. This was no mean defence, 
 and was at the distance of one hundred yards from the 
 point of the rock. Within this palisade, and at a few 
 yards from the very point itself, there was a like palisade, 
 though it did not run so high up the hill. Again, within 
 Cape Diamond, and probablv at a distance of fifty yards. 
 
130 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 there stood a block-house, which seemed to take up the 
 space between the foot of the hill and the precipitous 
 bank of the river leaving a cart way or passage on each 
 side of it. When heights and distances are spoken of 
 you must recollect that the description of Cape Diamond 
 and its vicinity is merely that of the eye, made as it were 
 running, under the inspection of an officer. The review 
 of the ground our army had acted upon was accorded us 
 as a particular favor. Even to have stepped the spaces in 
 a formal manner would have been dishonorable if not a 
 species of treason. A block-house if well constructed, 
 is an admirable method of defence which in the process 
 of the war to our cost was fully experienced. In the 
 instance now before us (though the house was not built 
 upon the most approved principles), yet it was a formida- 
 ble object. It was a square of perhaps forty or fifty 
 feet. The large logs neatly squared were tightly bound 
 together by dove-tail work. If not much mistaken the 
 lower story contained loop-holes for musketry, so narrow 
 that those within could not be harmed from without. 
 The upper story had four or more port holes for cannon 
 of a large calibre. These guns were charged with grape 
 or canister shot, and were pointed with exactness towards 
 the avenue at Cape Diamond. The hero Montgomery 
 came. The drowsy or drunken guard did not hear the 
 sawing of the posts of the first palisade. Here, if not 
 very erroneous, four posts were sawed and thrown aside 
 so as to admit four men abreast. The column entered 
 with a manly fortitude. Montgomery, accompanied by 
 his aids, M'Pherson and Cheeseman, advanced in front. 
 Arriving at the second palisade, the general with his own 
 hands sawed down two of the pickets, in such a manner 
 as to admit two men abreast. These sav/ed pickets 
 were close under the hill and but a few yards from the 
 very point of the rock out of the view and fire of the 
 enemy from the block-house. Until our troops advanced 
 to the point, no harm could ensue but by stones thrown 
 from above. Even now, there had been but an imper- 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, IJJ^. 131 
 
 feet discovery of the advancing of an enemy, and that 
 only by the intoxicated guard. The guard fled, the 
 general advanced a few paces. A drunken sailor re- 
 turned to his gun, swearing he would not forsake it while 
 undischarged. This fact is related from the testimony 
 of the guard on the inorning of our capture, some of 
 those sailors being our guard. Applying the match, this 
 single discharge deprived us of our excellent commander.' 
 
 Examining the spot, the officer who escorted us, pro- 
 fessing to be one of those who first came to the place, 
 after the death of the general, showed the position in 
 which the general's body was found. It lay two paces 
 from the brink of the river, on the back, the arms ex- 
 tended — Cheeseman lay on the left, and M'Pherson on 
 the right, in a triangular position. Two other brave 
 men lay near them. The ground above described, was 
 visited by an inquisitive eye, so that you may rely with 
 some implicitness on the truth of the picture. As all 
 danger from without had vanished, the government had 
 not only permitted the mutilated palisades to remain, 
 without renewing the enclosure, but the very sticks, 
 sawed by the hand of our commander, still lay strewed 
 about the spot. 
 
 Colonel Campbell, appalled by the death of the gene- 
 ral, retreated a little way from Cape Diamond, out of 
 the reach of the cannon of the block house, and pre- 
 tendedly called a council of officers, who, it was said, 
 justified his receding from the attack. If rushing on, as 
 military duty required, and a brave man would have done, 
 the block-house might have been occupied by a small 
 number, and was unassailable from without, but by can- 
 non. From the block-house to the centre of the lower 
 town, where we were, there was no obstacle to impede 
 a force so powerful as that under Colonel Campbell. 
 
 ' I have related this as I received it — from my own linowledge, I can 
 say nothing — I leave to the waild to determine the credibility the story is 
 e:itlt'ed to. — H,r.yy. 
 
132 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 Cowardice, or a want of good will towards our cause, 
 left us to our miserable fate. A junction, though we 
 might not conquer the fortress, would enable us to make 
 an honorable retreat, though with the loss of many valu- 
 able lives. Campbell, who was ever after considered as 
 a poltroon in grain, retreated, leaving the bodies of the 
 general, M'Pherson and Cheeseman, to be devoured by 
 the dogs. The disgust caused among us, as to Camp- 
 bell, was so great as to create the unchristian wish that 
 he might be hanged. In that desultory period, though 
 he was tried, he was acquitted ; that was also the case 
 of Colonel Enos, who deserted us on the Kennebec. 
 There never were two men more worthy of punishment 
 of the most exemplary kind. 
 
 On the third or fourth of January, being as it were 
 domesticated in the sergeant's mess, in the reguliers^ a 
 file of men headed by an officer, called to conduct me 
 to the seminary. Adhering to the advice of Colonel 
 M'Dougal, the invitation was declined, though the hero 
 Morgan had solicited this grace from Governor Carleton, 
 and had sent me a kind and pressing message. My rea- 
 sons, which were explained to Morgan, in addition to 
 the one already given, operated forcibly on my mind. 
 Having lost all my clothes in the wilderness, except 
 those on my back, and those acquired by the provident 
 and gratuitous spirit of General Montgomery, having 
 remained at our quarters, and become a prey to the 
 women and invalids of the army ; nothing remained 
 fitting me to appear in company anywhere. Additionally, 
 it had become a resolution, when leaving Lancaster, as 
 my absence would go near to break the hearts of my 
 parents, never to break upon my worthy father's purse. 
 Dire necessity compelled me to rescind this resolution 
 in part, in the wilderness, but that circumstance made 
 me the more determined to adhere to the resolve after- 
 wards. Again, my intimate friends were not in the 
 seminary. Steele was in the hospital, and Simpson, by 
 previo"? conitranr'. on the cha''!''^.'nn; Isle of Orleans, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 133 
 
 which, from its fruitfulness had become, as it were, our 
 store-house.' Add to all these reasons ; it could not 
 be said of the gentlemen in the seminary "they are my 
 intimates," except as to Captain Morgan, and Lieutenant 
 F. Nichols of Hendrick's. Besides my leather small- 
 
 * In former times, as now, lying was in vogue, but mcthinks within the 
 last thirty years there has been vast improvements in the art. Receive 
 information of two instances, which were somewhat remarkable in those 
 days. Simpson, one of the most spirited and active of officers — always 
 alert — always on duty, was traduced and vilified for a want of courage, be- 
 cause he was not taken a prisoner at Quebec. This small canton (Paxton), 
 was bursting with the falsehoods propagated on this subject. On the other 
 hand, Captain M. Smith, our commander, was applauded for his immense 
 bravery shown in the attack of that place, when in fact, he was on the 
 isle of Orleans, many miles distant from the city. Simpson had been 
 commanded to that place by a regular order from Colonel Arnold. Captain 
 Smith skulked thither illicitly. Here is a fac-simile, as to orthography of 
 Arnold's order to Lieut. Simpson, which I took from the original now in 
 his possession. On my part, it seems to be a duty to make it known to 
 you in justification of an excellent patriot, one of my friends from early 
 youth. 
 
 " Lieut. Simpson, 
 
 "Sir : — You are to proceed to Orleans, and take charge of the men there, 
 and keep all provisions from going to town ; you will be assiduous in gain- 
 ing the esteem of the inhabitants, who are now complaining that they have 
 been treated in a rigorous manner ; for provisions or assistance you receive 
 from them, you will pay them the value, or give orders on me for the 
 same. I make no doubt but you will endeavor to cultivate the friend- 
 ship of the people as far as is consistent with your duty. You will be care- 
 ful to keep ycur men under strict discipline, and not sufl^er them to have 
 too much liquor. I am told there has been open house kept there. You 
 will use as much economy as is consistent with our circumstances. 
 " I am, Sir, Your humble servant, 
 
 " B. Arnold, Col." 
 
 " December 29, 1775." 
 
 [This rigor was administered by a William Cross, our third lieutenant, 
 with as free a hand as he was lax in his principles of morality. Cross was 
 a handsome little Irishman, always neatly dressed, and commanded a detach- 
 ment of about twenty men. The Canadian gentlemen who came as agents 
 from the islanders on this occasion, stated that Cross had extorted from 
 them their wines and other liquors, and all kinds of provisions, which he 
 lavished on worthless people ; making no compensation for his exactions. 
 This was rigor indeed ! for the people of the isle were our friends. In 
 short, this unworthy officer kept " open house," and had a short, but a 
 luxurious and merry reign over that charming spot. He was not with us 
 at the attack of the city, but gaily danced his way to quarters.] 
 
 12 
 
134 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' 
 
 clothes, all in fritters, had been cast away, and a savage 
 covering adopted, until more auspicious times came. But 
 even now, an idea of" escape and vengeance inflamed the 
 breasts of many, and we were here in a much superior 
 situation for such a purpose, than that of the seminary. 
 More of this hereafter. All these facts and circum- 
 stances, induced an evasion of the friendly solicitation 
 of the kind-hearted Morgan. 
 
 On the third day of our capture, the generous Carle- 
 ton despatched a flag to Arnold, to obtain what trifling 
 baggage we had left at our quarters ; mine was either 
 forgotten, or miserable as it was, had been plundered ; 
 but as govA luck would liave it, the knapsack of one 
 Alexander Nelson of our company, who was killed when 
 running to the first barrier, was disclaimed by all of our 
 men. Your father in consequence, laid violent hands 
 upon the spoil. It furnished Boyd and myself, with a 
 large, but course blue blanket, called a stroud and 
 a drummer's regimental coat. The blanket became a 
 real comfort, the coat an article of barter. It was on 
 this day that my heart was ready to burst with grief, at 
 viewing the funeral of our beloved general. Carleton 
 had, in our former wars with the French, been the friend 
 and fellow-soldier of xMontgomery . Though political opin- 
 ion, perhaps ambition or interest, had thrown these 
 worthies on different sides of the great question, yet the 
 former could not but honor the remains of his quondam 
 friend. About noon, the procession passed our quarters. 
 It was most solemn. The coffin covered with a pall, 
 surmounted by transverse swords — was borne bv men. 
 
 Smith wrote, but Simpson acted. A letter from Smitli to a worthy and 
 patriotic clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Elder, of Paxton, which was filled with 
 bombast and trash, and stutfed with the most flagrant untruths j that he 
 was in the " midst of the battle, covered by smoke ; bullets of all sizes 
 playing around him, etc, etc.," every word of which was fabulous. This 
 person was among the last of those savage men who murdered the inno- 
 cent and unoffending Indians in the jail of the town we now live in. They 
 have all died miserably ; but a few remaining to relate the anecdote of the 
 occurrence of that horrible massacre. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- ^3S 
 
 The regular troops, particularly that fine body of men, 
 the seventh regiment, with reversed arms, and scarfs on 
 the left elbow, accompanied the corpse to the grave. 
 The funerals of the other officers, both friends and 
 enemies, were performed this day. From many of us 
 it drew tears of affection for the defunct, and speaking 
 for myself, tears of greeting and thankfulness, towards 
 General Carleton. The soldiery and inhabitants ap- 
 peared affected by the loss of this invaluable man, though 
 he was their enemy. If such men as Washington, 
 Carleton and Montgomery, had had the entire direction 
 of theadverse war, the contention in the event might have 
 happily terminated to the advantage of both sections of 
 the nation. M'Pherson, Cheeseman, Hendricks, Humph- 
 reys, were all dignified by the manner of burial. 
 
 On the same, or the following day, we were com- 
 pelled (if we would look), to a more disgusting and 
 torturing sight. Many carioles, repeatedly one after the 
 others, passed our dwelling loaded with the dead, whether 
 of the assailants or of the garrison, to a place, emphat- 
 ically called the dead-house. Here the bodies were 
 heaped in monstrous piles. The horror of the sight to 
 us southern men, principally consisted in seeing our com- 
 panions borne to interment uncoffined, and in the very 
 clothes they had worn in battle ; their limbs distorted in 
 various directions, such as would ensue in the moment 
 of death. Many of our friends and acquaintances were 
 apparent. Poor Nelson lay on the top of half a dozen 
 other bodies — his arms extended beyond his head, as if 
 in the act of prayer, and one knee crooked and raised, 
 seemingly, when he last gasped in the agonies of death. 
 Curse on these civil wars which extinguish the sociabili- 
 ties of mankind, and annihilate the strength of nations. 
 A flood of tears was consequent. Though Montgomery 
 was beloved because of his manliness of soul, heroic 
 bravery and suavity of manners ; Hendricks and Hum- 
 phreys, for the same admirable qualities, and especially 
 for the endurances we underwent in conjunction, which 
 
136 Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S' 
 
 enforced many a tear ; still my unhappy and lost brethren, 
 though in humble station, with whom that dreadful wild 
 was penetrated, and from whom came many attentions 
 towards me, forced melancholy sensations. From 
 what is said relative to the dead-house you might con- 
 clude that General Carleton was inhumane or hard- 
 hearted. No such thing. In this northern latitude, at 
 this season of the year, according to my feelings (we 
 had no thermometer), the weather was so cold, as usually 
 to be many degrees below zero. A wound, if mortal, 
 on even otherwise, casts the party wounded in the snow ; 
 if death should follow, it throws the sufferer into various 
 attitudes, which was assumed in the extreme pain accom- 
 panying death. The moment death takes place, the 
 frost fixes the limbs in whatever situation they may then 
 happen to be, and which cannot be reduced to decent 
 order, until they are thawed. In this state, the bodies 
 of the slain are deposited in the dead-house hard as 
 ice. At this season of the year, the earth is frozen from 
 two to five feet deep, impenetrable to the best pick-axe, 
 in the hands of the stoutest man. Hence you may per- 
 ceive a justification of the dead-house. It is no new 
 observation, that " climates form the manners and habit- 
 udes of the people." 
 
 January 4th, on the next day, we were visited by 
 Colonel Maclean, an old man, attended by other officers, 
 for a peculiar purpose, that is, to ascertain who among 
 us were born in Europe. We had many Irishmen, and 
 some Englishmen. The question was put to each ; 
 those who admitted a British birth, were told they must 
 serve his majesty in Colonel Maclean's regiment, a new 
 corps, called the emigrants. Our poor fellows, under 
 the fearful penalty of being carried to Britain, there to be 
 tried for treason, were compelled by necessity, and many 
 of them did enlist. Two of them, very brave men, Ed- 
 ward Cavenaugh and Timothy Conner, deserve to be 
 named, because of a particular occurrence which hap- 
 pened shortly afterwards. These two men, among 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- ^37 
 
 others, called upon me for my advice how to act. Being, 
 at that time, neither a lawyer nor a casuist, they had my 
 opinion according to the dictates of nature, and some 
 slight reading. That is, that they should enlist, for a 
 constrained oath, as theirs would be, could not be bind- 
 ing on the conscience : and by all means to join our 
 army as soon as practicable. They enlisted under the 
 notion that the oath was non-obligatory, and a hope of 
 a speedy return to their sweet-hearts and wives. Allow 
 me here to recount, by anticipation, the residue of the 
 adventures of " honest Ned." It is due to him, for he 
 saved my life, and that of Simpson, on the Dead river. 
 Towards the end of January, Cavenaugh and Conner 
 happened to compose a part of the same guard at palace 
 gate, where the walls are from thirty to forty feet high, 
 independently of the declivity of the hill. Cavenaugh 
 was stationed as a sentry in conjunction with one oi the 
 British party, Conner had procured a bottle of rum ; 
 coming to the station, he drank himself, and presented 
 the bottle to the British sentry. While the latter was 
 in the act of drinking, Cavenaugh gave him a push with 
 the butt of his musket, which stunned and brought him 
 to the earth. Taking his arms, they sprung over the 
 wall into a bed of snow, perhaps twenty-five feet deep. 
 This averment concerning the depth ot the snow, may 
 appear problematical, as we know nothing like it in our 
 climate. Form no definitive opinion until you have 
 heard the reasons why it does happen. As you may re- 
 collect several instances in this memoir, where the 
 asperity of a Quebec winter is intimated, and a descrip- 
 tion of its effects attempted — such as frequent snow 
 storms and fierce winds. In the month of January, 
 particularly, when the snow has increased to a depth of 
 seven feet over the face of the country, notwithstanding 
 the shining of the sun, the cold is so great, that those 
 winds drive the snow daily against the high ramparts of 
 the cit)», where it forms a compact mass — the last 
 stratum being light and dry, as the finest sand, which 
 
138 Campaign against ^ebec^ 1775. 
 
 may be whirled by the wind. Cavenaugh and Conner 
 leaped mid-deep into such a soft bed. Their disadvan- 
 tage consisted in sinking too deep ; the height of the 
 leap, plunging them deeper than ordinary walking would 
 do, made it difficult for them to extricate themselves. 
 The relief guard came in time to give them a volley, as 
 they were scampering away. Thanks to God, my worthy 
 Irishmen escaped unharmed, though as they passed 
 through St. Roque, they were complimented by several 
 discharges of cannister and grape shot. This was the 
 first notice we had of the escape of our daring friends. 
 We heard next morning, all the minutiae from those who 
 guarded us. Cavenaugh is still alive — is laborious, and 
 has a large family of children, who are respectable in 
 their way. You cannot conceive the joyousness of my 
 heart, when hearing of him in my peregrinations a few 
 years since, in the mountainous parts of York county. 
 The pittance then spared him, it is hoped, will make you 
 never the poorer. The assembly of Pennsylvania have 
 granted him a pension for which that honorable body 
 have my most fervent blessings. Old age and decrepi- 
 tude, by the extremity of our sufferings, is brought upon 
 us long before the ordinary allotments of nature. We 
 served our country faithfully, and at this late day it is 
 really pleasant to observe the spirit of the public, inclined 
 to compensate the veterans of 1775 and 1776. So much 
 for my preserver " honest Ned," which epithet he still 
 bears among his neighbors, by whom, bating a venial 
 vice, he is esteemed. Timothy Conner, on the con- 
 trary, possessing the art of acquiring wealth, married, 
 had a competency, but lost it subsequently by his vices, 
 which bore a strong affinity to gross criminality. 
 
 By the middle of January, we were settled down into 
 a state something like household order : those who could 
 economize, fared tolerably well, though they could have 
 used more. Our daily provision consisted of a biscuit 
 made of a coarse meal, from something like our chopped 
 rye ; very often chaff or straw, half an inch in length, 
 
Campaign against ^uebec^ lyjS- ^39 
 
 was found in this species of bread. A biscuit of the 
 size of a cake of gingerbread, now sold with us for a 
 cent, was the daily allowance of this article ; half a pound 
 of pork, or three-quarters of a pound of beef, though 
 these were much salted, even so as to be uncomforta- 
 ble — they were of Irish preparation, perhaps for the 
 sea-service: a competent allowance of butter, originally 
 fine, yet now rancid ; candles, molasses, and even 
 vinegar : this last article, so long as it could be afforded 
 us, was a preservative from the disorders which un- 
 wittingly we were imbibing daily. Knowing the diffi- 
 culties under which the garrison lay — foes at the gates, 
 and an uncertainty of succor ; the governor was thought 
 of by me, with similar allowances, that ought to be 
 made to our own generals, in circumstances of such 
 pincliing necessity. From all information attainable on 
 our part, we were as well treated as those of the garrison, 
 who lived on the same kinds of food, except as to liquor, 
 which deprivation was more beneficial than injurious to 
 our men It is grateful to my heart, now to remember 
 and repeat, the benevolent sensations this mildness and 
 humanity created in my mind, towards the virtuous, the 
 amiable and venerable Carleton. He was a genuine 
 representative of the gentility of the Irish nation, which 
 is so deservedly famous for the production of real heroes, 
 patriotic statesmen, and a generosity and suavity of 
 manners. He was of great candor, uprightness and 
 honor, and full of the spirit of philanthropy, which marks 
 the real gentleman. He made us several visits, in all 
 of which he seemed merely to have a solicitude for our 
 welfare, without any sinister view, such as a seduction 
 from our principles, etc. That he granted us every 
 accommodation his trying situation authorized, there 
 can be no doubt. Shortly after the time now spoken of, 
 we were conducted to the Dauphin jail. Before we quit 
 the ReguUers^ admit me to state to you something more, 
 relating to our manner of living there. My youthful 
 appetite required and demanded a greater quantity of 
 
140 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 food than we then enjoyed. We wanted spoons, not 
 only in our own mess, but throughout the whole corps. 
 There was no n.oney among us to purchase such an 
 implement, and if there had been, and opportunity had 
 offered, it is likely the jealousy of government would 
 have deprived us of them, if formed of metal of any 
 kind. 
 
 One day being at the unloading a cord of wood, a 
 birch stick, the only piece of hard wood in the load, was 
 eagerly laid hold of, and borne to the mess-room ; from 
 this, a wooden spoon was soon formed for my own use. 
 Lobscouse made a part of our diurnal food. This term, 
 though vulgar, conveys to one, who, when hungry, has 
 tasted the dish, some agreeable ideas. Among soldiers 
 and sailors, it is esteemed equal to the o/ia podrida 
 of the Spaniards, and nearly so to the speck and oyer ' 
 of the Germans; it is certainly more nourishing than 
 what the latter call water soup^ and even meal 
 soup. We put our vile biscuit into a tin vessel, with 
 a sufficient quantity of water, and permitted it to stew 
 on the stove, until there was a perfect mucilage, some 
 thin slices of bacon fat (the reserve of the last meal), 
 were then added ; or some of the skimmings of the 
 boilers, but most usually the rancid butter (which was 
 thus made palatable) : when these substances were well 
 incorporated with the biscuit; a few spoon-fulls of 
 molasses finished the dish. This was the ordinary 
 breakfast, and a good one, when we could spoon it into 
 our mouths. My spoon therefore, was an article in great 
 demand, and of prime necessity. The production of one 
 spoon, created a desire for more ; they were manu- 
 factured in abundance, by the means of two knives — 
 a great and a small, but always disposed of for biscuit. 
 Spoons were made as large as small ladles, some with a 
 deer at full stretch, a hound pursuing — an Indian 
 sitting — a beaver — and twenty other devices were in- 
 
 ' Spek en eijeren, ham and eggs, or eggs and bacon. — M. 
 
Campaign against ^uebeCy 1775. 141 
 
 vented, and tolerably well carved. Some came to five 
 biscuits, some to ten, and one in particular at twenty, 
 which my friends thought worthy of the acceptance of 
 the governor, but care was taken not to present it. 
 Boyd and Cunningham carefully furnished the wood. 
 Thus we could exist pretty well on our slender diet. 
 But we had other resources, which were by no means 
 neglected. Henry Crone, a well bred young man, 
 descended from a worthy and respectable family of York 
 county, Pennsylvania, much my senior, but who was 
 known to me during his apprenticeship at Lancaster, had 
 dissipated a good fortune at the gaming-tables ; he was 
 a sergeant of Hendricks'. Miserable as was our predica- 
 ment, the demon of play had intruded itself among us, 
 though there was neither money nor clothing but that 
 upon our backs, and our daily provisions to sport with. 
 The play was for biscuit, and most usually at a game 
 called all-fours^ in which Crone was a real adept. 
 He was a droll dog, and much inclined to play with and 
 beat the Yankees, as he termed them. Many mornings, 
 being compelled by the inclemency of the season to 
 leave our uncomfortable beds, pacing the avenues in front 
 of our cells for exercise and warmth, drawing aside the 
 curtain of the gambling room door, which was no other 
 than a thread-bare blanket. Crone was seen and heard, 
 with bleared eyes and a vociferous voice, after a night's 
 sitting, contending for a biscuit, with as much spirit and 
 heat, as most probably he had done in former times for 
 fiftv or a hundred dollars. The passion of gaming, is 
 almost an inexplicable trait in the human character, the 
 poor, the rich, the savage and the civilized, are equally 
 its devotees. The greatest and the least are alike 
 subject to its fascinations. Crone, poor dog, was one 
 of the devoted. 
 
 Montgomery, in his care for Arnold's party, besides 
 an excellent blanket coat, had assigned to each man a 
 new red regimental coat of the seventh, or some other 
 regiment, stationed in the upper country. This clothing 
 
142 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 had been seized at Montreal. Crone, in the division, had 
 fared well. He had obtained a large superfine broad- 
 cloth coat, such as is worn bv the sergeant-major of the 
 British army, which " fitted him like a shirt." He was 
 so totally devoid of care, that he never once applied to 
 the tailors of the army, who were employed by the pub- 
 lic, to fit the coat to his back, and to sew it regularly. 
 What was still more laughable, he had no pockets to 
 this coat, unless you may call the flannel such, which 
 interiorly lined the lappets, and bore the appearance of 
 
 laree haes dangling about his heels. Crone was facetious 
 
 0000 ^ _ 
 
 and clever ; he had an affection for me. Often about 
 daylight he would come to mv blanket and waken me, and 
 shake the lappets of his coat. He would say " Damme 
 Jack, here's something for you," and would force upon 
 me ten, fifteen, and several times, even thirty biscuits. 
 With all his vices he bore a great share of my esteem, 
 for the goodness of his heart. When ill-luck occurred, 
 there was a refunding on my part, but it seldom hap- 
 pened. Our other resource was William M'Coy, a 
 sergeant of Hendricks' an excellent clerk, who came 
 into favor of the governor, by giving to Major Murray, 
 of the garrison, a genuine copy of his journal of the route 
 through the wilderness into Canada. He was a sedate 
 and sensible man. He was installed clerk of the 
 kitchen, and put me much in mind of Gil Bias' clerk. 
 The cook, whom M'Coy patronized was a very Boni- 
 face in accomplishments and a Sancho Panza in rotundity. 
 He was of Thayer's or Dearborn's company. Believe 
 me that these two men were courted by our hungry 
 wights among the soldiery, with as much eagerness and 
 solicitude, and often sycophancy, as would have been 
 the case had they been the ministers of a great state. 
 What could you suppose to be the object of such ser- 
 vility ? To explain — the boiling utensils were two 
 very large coppers. A boiling of pork, produced a great 
 quantity of liquid fat, which the men called slush. The 
 skimmings constituted the importance of the cook, who 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- '43 
 
 made a profit from it by selling it to certain tradesmen 
 of the city. A half pint of this slush was a good succe- 
 daneum for better food, to a mess of six stout men. 
 It, with the molasses, formed an excellent lobscouse. 
 Oleaginous matter, next to bread, is, however, the 
 great support of the animal functions, and even su- 
 perior to bread, to sustain life, and gratify the palate. 
 Here you see the real ground of the causes of distinctions 
 in society. The cook possessing this perquisite, com- 
 manded his applicants for additional food, with an un- 
 warrantable austerity. As to our mess, it was strong in 
 habits of intimacy with M'Coy, ivho was one of us. The 
 cook was far below our notice. Friend M'Coy gave 
 us every advantage our melancholy situation afforded 
 him. This minute information is given to you, to in- 
 spire you with a disgust towards war of any kind. As 
 to my sons, if the liberties of our country ever be invaded, 
 it is humbly hoped, under the protecting hand of Provi- 
 dence, that they will always be ready and active to rally 
 round the standard of Freedom, the principles of which 
 we derived from our forefathers, whose blood freely 
 flowed in its defence. 
 
 Coming to the Dauphin jail, escorted by the military, 
 we found it well accommodated for our lodgment. 
 There were four rooms below, and as many above 
 stairs, all capacious and well supplied with berths or 
 bulks, in the common method of barracks. Our com- 
 pany taking the right our preceder^y in the procession 
 gave us, assumed the possession of a room in the third 
 story, which was in truth the very best. Morgan's 
 took a room immediately below us ; Hendrick's one 
 adjoining ; but remember that at this time we were re- 
 duced most lamentably by killed, wounded and missing. 
 Many were in the hosj^itiil. Out of sixty-five who 
 came on Abraham's plains in November, we had 
 scarcely more than thirty left with us in prison. The 
 fire of the enemy and disease had so thinned us. Mor- 
 gan's gallant men fared worse. Like the eastern people 
 
144 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 % 
 
 before and at that period, they detested the introduction 
 of the small-pox into their country by inoculation. Now 
 they were its victims. Less than twenty-five of the 
 privates of that company regained their native homes. 
 They were originally as elegant a body of men as ever 
 came within my view.' To use the style of my friend 
 Simpson, " they were beautiful boys, who knew how to 
 handle and aim the rifle." Indeed many of them, adroit 
 young men, courageous and thorough going, became 
 the subjects of death by that virulent disease, both with- 
 out and within the city. We of Pennsylvania had no 
 fears from that source. 1 his disease had visited us in 
 youth, cither naturally or by inoculation. This observ- 
 ation which is a serious one, should convey to your 
 minds the immensity of the discovery of the inoculation 
 of the kine pock, by Doctor Jenner. The discovery of 
 the causes ot lightning, its dreadful effects, the means of 
 avoiding its power by the celebrated Franklin, our 
 countiyman, is (as it concerns the happiness of man, 
 speaking diffidently), perhaps inferior in importance to 
 that of Jenner. The Jennerian discovery tends to save 
 the lives of millions, the Franklinian of hundreds. But 
 all lovers of natural philosophy are compellable to ac- 
 knowledge that the identity of the electric fluid, obtained 
 artificially, with that of the clouds, has given a wider 
 scope to human thought than the recency of the Jenner- 
 ian discovery has as yet afforded. There can be little 
 doubt, that in a succession of years, some gigantic gen- 
 iuses of the medical profession, will improve and extend 
 the benefits of the happy disclosure, 
 
 At the Dauphin jail our notions of escape were 
 
 'In the spring of the year 1776, our army was reduced by decease of 
 men, or debilitation of body, so that they could not act effectively, and in 
 the eyes of the world, a disreputable retreat took place, which it was not 
 then quite prudent to explain. Now it may be safely asserted, that great 
 numbers of the soldiers inoculated themselves for the small-pox, by lacerat- 
 ing under the finger nails, by means of pins or needles, either to obtain an 
 avoidance of duty, or to get over that horrible disorder in an easy and 
 tpeedy way. — Henr\. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' H5 
 
 strengthened. The prison may be three huudred yards 
 from St. John's gate, the interval at that time was free 
 from buildings. From without the building appeared 
 formidable. The courtyard was very contracted for so 
 large a house, and was encompassed by a strong stone 
 wall at least twenty feet high. The windows and doors 
 were seemingly by their bars impenetrable. But what 
 cannot men of true spirit effect when made the subjects 
 of oppression ? Opposite to the jail, across the street 
 leading to St. John's gate, at a distance of forty yards 
 there stood a house which became the station of the 
 guard who superintended us. In the first of our im- 
 prisonment we were attended by the regular troops, or 
 sailors, who were embodied by government as soldiers, 
 but now the guard (as our force without had made a firm 
 stand), was replaced by the militia, who were the most 
 inert and despicable of military men. The sentries were 
 stationed on the outside of the jail ; we had no witnesses 
 of our conduct within, except the captain of the provost, 
 who did not pry with a suspicious eye. He was a gen- 
 erous and open-hearted enemy — had no guile himself, 
 nor imputed it to others. The principal defence on this 
 side of the city, as it regarded our attempt at evasion, lay 
 at and near St. John's gate. The guard here was most 
 usually composed of thirty men of the regular troops or 
 sailors. They would have given us a hustle but of a 
 certainty we should have overpowered them by the force 
 of numbers as stout and as able bodied men as themselves 
 whose courage was not to be questioned, though there 
 was a great difference in the nature of our respective 
 arms. Having examined the jail carefully, its imbecility 
 to restrain us was apparent. It was an old French 
 building in the Bastile style. The walls of stone, and 
 more than three feet thick, were impenetrable by any 
 of our means. Upon examining the bars of the windows, 
 which were originally ill-constructed, many were found 
 so much corroded as to move up and down in the sockets. 
 These could be taken out. The mildness of Governor 
 13 
 
146 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 Carleton's reign seemed not to require a strict inspection 
 into places of this kind. About this time a selected 
 council was called, of which your father had the honor 
 to be one, and was chiefly composed of the sergeants. 
 The present Major Joseph Aston, of Lamb's artillerists, 
 then a sergeant-major had the presidency. Our dis- 
 coveries were disclosed, the means of escape considered, 
 and a consultation of the men recommended. This was 
 done, and there was not a dissentient voice. At the 
 stair head there was a small room lighted by a small 
 window ; the door was locked. Peeping through the 
 keyhole large iron hoops were discovered ; the spring of 
 the lock kindly gave way to our efforts, the room was 
 ransacked ; and as neatly closed. The room furnished 
 us with a large number of strong iron-hoops, two and 
 three inches broad, and a considerable quantity of other 
 iron, of different shapes and sizes deposited there as 
 lumber. From the first of these articles we formed a 
 rough, but weighty species of sword with a wooden 
 handle, a blow from which, in the hands of one of our 
 stout men would have brought down one of the stoutest 
 of the enemy. The residue of the iron was applied to 
 formation of spear-heads. These were affixed to splits 
 of fir-plank, about ten feet in length, which had formed 
 in part, the bottoms of the lower berths. These weapons, 
 it is true, were of the coarsest make, yet in the hands of 
 men determined to sacrifice their lives for freedom, they 
 would have had a considerable sway. Our long knives, 
 which many of us secreted when captured, also became 
 spear-points. These weapons were concealed under the 
 lower range of berths, which were raised a foot from the 
 floor. The planks were neatly raised, the nails were 
 extracted, and the nail-head with a part of its shank, 
 placed in its former position. Over these lay our 
 blankets and bundles. It was a standing rule to have 
 two sentries constantly on the watch, one at each end of 
 the interior of the jail. Their duty consisted in giving 
 a signal of the approach of the officers of the garrison. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ 1775* '47 
 
 who were in the habit of visiting us daily, as there were 
 shoemakers and tailors among us, who worked cheaper 
 than those of the city, merely for the purpose of bettering 
 their condition. There was policy in this watchfulness. 
 When the signal was given the inner doors were thrown 
 open, those appointed for the purpose laid upon the berth 
 which hid our arms, as if in a drowsy state. The officers 
 were accosted with assumed confidence, and much com- 
 plaisance. The council met daily, sometimes in small 
 squads, and when anything of much consequence was 
 to be considered in larger ; but at all times secretly, or 
 at least not obviously as a council, from a fear of traitors, 
 or some indiscretion of the young men. Our arrange- 
 ments, so far as my judgment could discern, were judicious. 
 Aston was to act as general, M'Coy and some others 
 became colonels. Boyd and others of the most spirit 
 became majors, captains, lieutenants, etc. That which 
 cheered me much was that the council assigned me a 
 first lieutenancy under my friend Boyd, whose vigor and 
 courage were unquestionable. 
 
 The plan of the escape was thus : Aston, who was 
 an excellent engineer, was to have the particular superin- 
 tendency of Lamb's company, which to a man was well 
 informed in their duty, active and spirited. These were 
 to be increased to a band of one hundred and fifty men, 
 whose duty it was to attack the guard at St. Johr/s gate. 
 The attack of the guard opposite the jail was assigned to 
 the discretion of Boyd, Cunningham and myself; the 
 council generously giving us the authority of a first 
 selection of twenty two persons, from the whule body 
 of our men. The residue of our force was so disposed 
 of as to act as a body of reserve to Aston, under the 
 command of M'Coy, and another smaller body was 
 reserved to support Boyd, particularly by way of setting 
 fire to the jail, the guard house, and the buildings in its 
 neighborhood, to amuse or employ the enemy, while we 
 were running to St. John's gate. It was expected we 
 could arrive there by the time Aston and his party 
 
148 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775- 
 
 would be victorious. Our paiticular duty was of the 
 desperate kind, something of the nature of the " forlorn 
 hope." Nothing but the virtue and bravery of our 
 comrades could ensure the safety of our lives ; for if 
 they should arrive at St. John's gate, and discomfit the 
 guard, and if then seeking safety by flight, they would 
 leave us to the mercy of an enraged enemy, who would 
 sacrifice us to their fury. But there has been too much 
 precipitation in the relation. Previously to the last 
 observations, besides being told of our force, our weapons, 
 and our military plans, you should have been informed 
 also, of the real site of the jail, of its internal structure, 
 from which the sally was to be made. The Dauphin 
 jail is built on a plain, pretty much declined towards the 
 street. It follows that the front of the lower story, 
 that is the cellars, was on a level with the street. The 
 back ground was ten or twelve feet higher. In the 
 cellar, near the foot of the stairway, there was a plente- 
 ous fountain of water, which supplied the house. The 
 conduits leading from the spring, by the severity of the 
 weather, were impeded by ice, so that the water, in great 
 quantity remained in the cellar, which with the additional 
 carelessness of our people, who cast the rinsing of their 
 buckets. on the floor of the apartment, formed a bed of 
 ice a foot thick, and very firm and solid. This cellar 
 had a door newly made of strong pine plank, five feet 
 in width, which opened inwards, the sill was level with 
 the street. The door was hung upon H hinges of a 
 large size, fixed on the inside, exposed to our view and 
 operations. But what was still more absurd, the door 
 was hasped within and secured by a large pad lock. 
 Close inspection and thoughtfulness had made the mem- 
 bers of the council, by the means they enjoved, perfect 
 masters of those hinges and the lock; they would not 
 have stood a second of time. The principal obstacle 
 was the ice which was raised fully a foot against the 
 door. Even this would have given way to our ingenuity. 
 The whole of our plan was well laid, and thoroughly 
 
Campaign against Quebec, ^71 5- ^49 
 
 digested. That door was to be our sally port. Boyd 
 preceding with our division, Aston and M'Coy following, 
 they turning rapidly to the left for St. John's gate. The 
 dislocation of the iron bars of the windows, was to 
 ensue : all those which could be removed being known, 
 were to become issues for our bravest men. Every 
 man knew his station. It is an old and a trite observ- 
 ation, that it is a difficult thing to describe a battle, so as 
 to give a clear idea of all the causes and effects of each 
 movement, without overloading and confusing the pic- 
 ture. The same may be said of a conspiracy such as 
 ours. Going through the entry from the front door 
 into the jail yard, near the back door but still within the 
 prison, there are two cavities opposite to each other, 
 strongly walled and arched. We called them the black 
 holes. On the outside of the building in the vard, these 
 cavities assumed the forms of banks, ten or eleven feet 
 high, and as wide ; and well sodded. With some address 
 and agility a sprightly man could surpass either of them. 
 The wall above those banks was probably ten feet 
 higher. In the daytime we often climbed up the wall, 
 by means of its interstices, from which the mortar had 
 fallen in the course of time, to take a peep at the city, 
 merely putting our eyes above the level of the top of it. 
 A Mr. Martin, a hardy, daring and active young man, 
 of Lamb's company, I think a sergeant, proposed to 
 bear intelligence of our projects, to the American com- 
 mander without the walls. His plan was approved. A 
 time for irruption was named, though the day was not 
 particularized. The signals to invite the advance of our 
 army to St. John's gate, were the burning of the houses, 
 and the firing of the guns of the ramparts towards the 
 city. As yet, we were unprepared to move. This ex- 
 pedition of Martin's was profoundly a secret among those 
 of the council, from a fear that some bungler might at- 
 tempt the same path, fail, and by his being taken, unveil 
 our plots. Permit me a short episode on the escape of 
 Martin. It was singularly adventurous, and the neatness 
 
150 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 of its execution renders it worthy of remark. I had the 
 pleasure of hearing it recounted, in more happy times, at 
 New York. Martin was dressed in warm clothing, 
 with good gloves ; a white cap, shirt and overalls were 
 prepared for him. He appeared in the jail yard among 
 the prisoners, in his daily dress. The time of locking 
 up, and calling the roll generally happened about sun- 
 down. It was the business of the captain of the provost, 
 who was accompanied by a file of men. The prisoners, 
 instigated by those in the secret, employed themselves 
 out of doors, until late in the evening, in play, as if to 
 keep their bodies warm. It was a blowing and dreary 
 evening, which was purposely chosen. At locking up, 
 those in the secret lagged behind, tardily, pushing the 
 uninformed before, yet so slowly, as effectually to crowd 
 the gangway ; Martin remaining in the rear. The ope- 
 ration took place at the clanging of the lock of the great 
 front door. This measure was imagined and effected 
 on purpose to procure to Martin a sufficiency of leisure 
 to get to his hiding place, which was no other than a nook 
 formed by the projection of the door way, and on the 
 top of one of the banks before spoken of. Here he had 
 time to put on his cap, shirt, etc. The officer who ex- 
 amined the yard, could not perceive him, unless he went 
 out of the door, several paces to the left, and most pro- 
 bably, not even then, for Martin would be covered in 
 the snow, and imperceptible. Happily the officer went 
 no further than the threshold, and made but a slight sur- 
 vey of the yard. This account, so far, is derived from 
 my own knowledge ; what follows, is from Martin him- 
 self. " Martin tarried there until seven or eight o'clock. 
 The dilemma he was in, could only be surpassed in im- 
 minence of danger, by his extreme activity, skill and 
 courage. There were four sentries stationed around the 
 jail — two at each corner in front, and the like number 
 at the corners of the yard in the rear. Those sentries, 
 though relieved every quarter of an hour, were soon 
 driven into the sentry boxes, by the cold and keenness 
 
Campaign against Quebec ^ ^11 S- ^ 5 ^ 
 
 of the whistling winds. If they had paced the spaces 
 allotted them by duty, the escape of Martin must have 
 been impossible. Watching the true time, he slipped 
 down the wall into the deep snow underneath unobserved. 
 Hence, he made a sudden excursion to the left of St. 
 John's gate, at a part of the wall where he well knew 
 no sentiy was placed. Leaping the wall, into the snow, 
 he received the fire of a distant sentry. Martin was un- 
 harmed. The soldier fired, as it were, at a phantom, 
 for when Martin's body came into contact with the 
 snow it was undiscernible — the desired information 
 wa^ given ;" but of this, we could merely make surmises 
 until the May following. That which is very remark- 
 able is, that the absence of Martin was unknown to go- 
 vernment, until the explosion of our plot. 
 
 Our next solicitude was the acquisition of powder. 
 This article could be obtained but by sheer address and 
 shrewd management But we had to do with men who 
 were not of the military cast. We began first to enter 
 into familiarity with the sentries, joking with them and 
 pretending to learn French from them. The guard, 
 usually of Canadians, consisted of many old men, and 
 young boys, who were very " coming.^'' A few small 
 gun-carriages were constructed, not more than six 
 inches in length, and mounted with cannon, or howit- 
 zers, which were made of many folds of paper, and 
 were bound tightly around with thread. These were 
 shown to the sentries from time to time, and a little 
 powder was requested, with which to charge them. Our 
 berths formed an angle of the room. The upper berths, 
 as well as the lower, had a ledge of several inches in 
 height, in which embrasures were formed with the 
 knite. Two parties were raised in opposition to each 
 other, each of which took possession of one side of the 
 angle. The blaze and report, which was nearly as great 
 and as loud as that of small pistols, created much laughter 
 and merriment. This sport, the child of a seeming folly, 
 served us as a pretence and justification for soliciting 
 
152 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 i- 
 
 powder. The apparent joy prevailing among us pleased 
 the Canadians, both old and young, and did not alarm 
 the government. We obtained many cartridges in the 
 course of a (cv/ weeks, two-thirds of which came to the* 
 hands of Aston and his corps, for the purpose of manu- 
 facturing matches, etc., etc. Fire arms of any kind 
 could not, by any finesse, be procured. The commerce 
 of cartridges, accompanied by a suavity and deference 
 of manners towards our young friends, procured us 
 many quarters of nuunds of powder, which they bought 
 secretly out of funds, some of which were procured in 
 a ludicrous way. We had many sick in the hospital, 
 for when any one appeared to be disordered in the least 
 degree, he vv'as hurried to the infirmary, when cured, 
 he was returned to us. Some of the men went so far 
 as to feign sickness to get to that place, where they 
 lived in a more sumptuous style than that of the jail. 
 The frequent removals caused the propagation of a re- 
 port that the prison was unhealthy. Many pious matrons 
 came to see us, and never empty handed. Some 
 elderly nuns, of respectable families, were of the number, 
 and generally brought money, truly not great in quantity, 
 but not the less acceptable to the sick and convalescent, 
 as these alms procured them some slight comforts, such 
 as tea, etc. These were the religious and humane col- 
 lections of the sisterhood, and mostly consisted of the 
 smallest change. There was a beautiful countenanced 
 youth, Thomas Gibson, first sergeant of Hendricks, 
 who had studied physic at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, allied 
 to me by affinity, who had, probably from a knowledge 
 he had of his profession, sustained his health hitherto ; 
 his cheeks were blooming as roses. He was one of the 
 council. As young men, we cared little about the 
 means, so that we obtained the end, which was powder. 
 We lived above stairs, and never shared in the gratuities 
 of the ladies, which were rapaciously awaited at the 
 entrance of the prison. Gibson and myself were 
 Standing at a window near the great door, and opposite 
 
Campaign against Quebec, ^775- ^53 
 
 to M'Coy's room, a neat little box which had been 
 knocked up for his purposes. Looking into the street, 
 a lady with a thick vail, was observed to take the path 
 through the snow to our habitation. " Zounds, Gibson, 
 there's a nun," was scarcely expressed, before he was 
 hurried into M'Coy's apartment and put to bed, though 
 dressed. Several of us waited respectfully at the door, 
 till the officer of the guard unlocked it. The nun 
 entered — she seemed, from her manners, to be genteel 
 and respectable. We were most sedulous in our atten- 
 tions to the lady, and so prevailed, as to induce her to 
 come into M'Coy's room. Here lay Gibson, covered 
 to the chin with the bed-clothes, nothing exposed but 
 his beautiful hair and red cheeks, the latter indicating a 
 high fever. It was well the lady was no physician. 
 The nun crossing herself, and whispering a pater-noster, 
 poured the contents of her little purse into the hand of 
 the patient, which he held gently, without the blanketing, 
 and left us. What should the donation be, but twenty- 
 four coppers, equal at that time to two shillings of our 
 money. The latter circumstance added much to the 
 humor, and extreme merriment of the transaction. This 
 money was solely appropriated for powder. Thus, 
 careless of every thing but the means of escaping, we 
 enjoyed many merry, and even happy hours. Aston, 
 who was provident of time, by the middle of March 
 (I have no note of the precise period), had all his matters 
 of arrangement in good order. 
 
 The council assigned a day for the irruption. As we 
 dared not touch the door in the cellar, from a fear of 
 discovery by inspection (and it was examined almost 
 daily), it was determined to postpone the unloosing the 
 hinges and lock, which were under our command, until 
 the moment of escape. It became a main question how 
 to remove the ice at the foot of the door. Here lay the 
 great difficulty, as it was universally agreed that the door 
 must be dragged down suddenly, so that we might march 
 over it. Remember also, that a sentry was posted not 
 
154 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 more than from fifteen to twenty feet from the outside 
 of the door. Many propositions were made in council, 
 how to effect the removal of the body of ice without 
 exposure to detection. One was lightly to pirk it away 
 with hatchets, a few of which had been secret y retained 
 by the prisoners, and brought into the jail. To this, 
 there were several insuperable objections ; the softest 
 stroke of the lightest tomahawk upon the ice would be 
 heard by a sentry so near ; or an unlucky stroke might 
 touch the door which would resound and inevitably cause 
 a discovery. Others proposed to wear away the ice by 
 boiling water ; two most obvious objections lay here ; 
 the steam would search for a vent through the crevices 
 of the door and window, and develop our measures ; 
 besides the extreme cold would have congealed the hot 
 water the moment it fell, so as to add to our difficulties. 
 Another idea was suggested that was " with knives to cut 
 the door across on the surface of the ice ;" to this plan 
 there was a fatal exception, the ice had risen on the lower 
 cross-piece of the door nearly an inch, so that we must 
 cut through the cross-piece lengthwise, and through the 
 thick plank crosswise. Though this labor might have 
 been accomplished by industry and perseverance, yet the 
 time it would necessarily take would cause a discovery 
 by the searchers. The last and only method to avoid 
 discovery was adopted. This was to embody sixteen or 
 eighteen of the most prudent men who knew the value 
 of silence, who should, two and two, relieve each other, 
 and with our long knives gently pare away the ice next 
 the sill of the door, so as to make a groove of four or 
 six inches wide, parallel with, and deep as the sill. The 
 persons were named and appointed to this service. Now 
 the capability ot the execution of our plot, infused com- 
 fort and joy into all hearts. It was intended immediately 
 after locking up, on the night of the irruption, that those 
 prudent men, should descend into the vault by pairs, and 
 by incessant labor have the work finished by three 
 o'clock in the morning, when the sally should be made. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^775- '^SS 
 
 We had carefully noticed from the walls of the jail, and 
 the ridge of the house where there is a trap-door, the 
 placing of the guards, the numbers and stationing of the 
 sentries. We were safe therefore, in the measures we 
 had taken for the attack of the guard of St. John's gate. 
 Our own guard was perfectly scrutinized. The oppor- 
 tunities were of the most commodious kind. The guard- 
 house was directly in our front, where we could see and 
 be seen. Their windows had no shutters. They had 
 lights all the night through ; we, the better to observe 
 them, kept none. This latter circumstance, enabled us 
 distinctly to see that the arms with fixed bayonets were 
 placed in the right hand corner of the room, as we would 
 enter from the stairhead, and that the guard towards 
 morning to a man were lying asleep on the floor. The 
 sentries as they were relieved, did the like. This 
 guard, as was before said, in ordinary consisted of thirty 
 persons. Boyd's party, from a perfect knowledge of 
 their method of conducting, esteemed it no great hardi- 
 ness to undertake the overwhelming them. Subsequently 
 our danger must appear. The nights were piercingly 
 cold — the sentries soon housed themselves in their 
 boxes. As the sally, to succeed, must be most silent and 
 quick, it was hoped to quiet all of them before any alarm 
 could spread. Besides Boyd's division (the first rank of 
 which, were to despatch the nearest sentry by the spear), 
 others of the succeeding corps, were assigned to assail 
 the rest of the sentries, immediately around the prison. 
 The getting up the stairs of our guard-house so quickly 
 as to create no alarm was not only feasible, but in my mind 
 (with the force delegated to us), of absolute certainty of 
 success. The front door was always open by night and 
 by day, we knew the precise number of steps the stairs 
 contained. An agile man would mount at three strides. 
 A light was continually in the passage. Entering the 
 room and turning to the right the arms in the corner 
 were ours. The bayonet, from necessity, would become 
 the lot of the guard. In this part of the enterprise pro- 
 
156 Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. 
 
 found silence was all important ; the section was to rely 
 on the spear a.nd tomahawk. Aston on the other hand, 
 being victorious at St. John's gate, was instantly to turn 
 the cannon upon the city ; his fuses, portfire, etc., were 
 prepared and ready as substitutes for those of the enemy, 
 if they were extinguished or taken from the guns. It 
 was known to us, that all the cannon of the ramparts 
 were charged and primed, and boxes of ammunition and 
 piles of balls in the vicinity of each gun, it was calculated 
 that the execution of the business of our section, might 
 be effected in at least fifteen minutes, together with the 
 firing of the houses. Then running to support Aston 
 and if he was victorious, to maintain our position on the 
 walls, under a hope of the arrival of the American army 
 from without. In that event St. John's gate, as a first 
 measure, was to be opened. But if Aston should un- 
 fortunately be beaten (which was most improbable,) then 
 we were to fly in all directions, and make the adven- 
 turous leap. It was supposed that in the latter case the 
 hurry and bustle created by so sudden, unforseen and 
 daring an attack, would throw the garrison into conster- 
 nation and disorder, to so great a degree, as to admit the 
 escape of many. Sluggards might expect to be massacred. 
 The particularity of the foregoing details are purposely 
 made to impress on your minds a single truth : "That 
 the best imagined schemes and thoroughly digested de- 
 signs, whether in military or civil life, may be defeated 
 by a thoughtless boy, the interference of an idiot or a 
 treacherous knave." Two lads from Connecticut or 
 Massachusetts, whose names are now lost to my memory, 
 prisoners with us, but who had no manner of connection 
 or intercourse with the chiefs, nor knew the minute, yet 
 essentia] parts of the measures of the council, but pro- 
 bably having overheard a whisper of the time and 
 manner of the evasion ; those young men, without con- 
 sultation, without authority from their superiors, in the 
 thoughtless ardor of their minds, on the eve of the sally, 
 descended into the cellar, and with hatchets, picked at 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ '^11 S- ^57 
 
 the ice at the door-sill. The operation was heard. The 
 sentry threatened to fire. The guard was instantly 
 alarmed and immediately doubled, and all our long 
 labored schemes and well digested plans, annihilated in 
 a moment. You cannot form an adequate idea of the 
 pangs we endured. My heart was nearly broken by the 
 excess of surprise and burning anger, to be thus fatuit- 
 ously deprived of the gladdenitig hope of a speedy return 
 to our friends and country. It became us, however, to 
 put the best face upon it. It was suddenly resolved by 
 the chiefs to kill the person who should disclose the 
 general plot, and to wait upon the officers on the ensu- 
 ing morning, with our usual attentions. When morn- 
 ing came, it found us afoot. About sunrise, the 
 formidable inquisition took place. Major Murray, Cap- 
 tain Prentis, the officer of the guard, and a dozen mus- 
 keteers came, — we awaited their approach undismayed. 
 They accosted us very coolly. The cellar was visited, 
 and the work of those fools was apparent. Reascend- 
 ing, we could assure the gentlemen that this effort to 
 escape, was without the knowledge of any of us. This, 
 to be .sure, was said in the Jesuitical style, but those who 
 made the assertion, did not then know either the persons 
 or the names of the silly adventurers. The officers and 
 the guard were departing, fully persuaded that it was no 
 more than the attempt of one or two persons to escape. 
 Major Murray was the last to recede. An Englishman 
 of whom we knew not that he was a deserter from our 
 enemies at Boston, had posted himself close to the right 
 jamb of the door, which was more than half opened for 
 the passage of the major. Those of us who were de- 
 termined to execute our last night's resolution, armed 
 with our long knives, had formed a half circle around 
 the door, without observing the intrusion and presence 
 of the deserter. Major Murray was standing on the 
 threshold, speaking in a kindly manner to us, when the 
 villain sprung past the major, even jostling him. The 
 spring he made, was so sudden and so entirely unsus- 
 14 
 
158 Campaign against ^ebeCy 1775. 
 
 pected, that he screened himself from our just vengeance. 
 Touching Major Murray's shoulder, "Sir," says he, " I 
 have something to disclose." The guards encompassed 
 the traitor, and hurried him away to the governor's 
 palace. We instantaneously perceived the extent and 
 consequences of this disaster. The prisoners immedi- 
 ately destroyed such of the arrhs as were too bulky 
 to hide, if destructible, and secreted the rest. In an 
 hour or two, a file of men with an officer, demanded 
 Boyd, Cunningham and others, represented by the vile 
 informer, as lukewarm in the plot. They were escorted 
 to the governor's council. Here they found that the 
 wretch had evidenced all our proceedings minutely, 
 naming every one who was prominent. Our worthy 
 compatriots were examined on oath, and as men of honor 
 could not conceal the truth. The questions of the 
 council (furnished by the informer), did not admit of 
 equivocation or evasion, if the examinants had been so 
 inclined, and besides all tergiversation, when the outline 
 was marked, was nugatory. They boldly admitted and 
 justified the attempt. We did not fare the worse in our 
 provisions nor in the estimation of our enemy. Return- 
 ing to the jail, my dear Boyd shed the tears of excruciat- 
 ing anguish in my bosom, deploring our adverse fate. 
 We had vowed to each other to be free or die, and to be 
 thus foolishly baulked caused the most heart rending 
 grief. Towards two o'clock p.m. were seen several heavy 
 cart loads, consisting of long and weighty irons, such as 
 bilboes, foot-hobbles and hand-cuff's, arrive. The pri- 
 soners were ordered to their rooms. The ironing began 
 below stairs with Morgan's company. Here the bilboes 
 were expended. If not much mistaken, ten or twelve 
 persons were secured, each by a foot to a bar twelve 
 feet long, and two inches in diameter, The heavy bolts 
 were exhausted in the story below us. When they 
 came to our range of rooms, they turned to the left, in- 
 stead of coming to the right where we were. By the 
 time the officers came to us, even the handcuffs were 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S' ^S9 
 
 nearly out. Each of us was obliged to take to his berth, 
 which contained five men each. When they had 
 shackled those of the lower berths, they commenced at 
 one the most distant from ours. Slipping in the rear of 
 my companions, bent down in apparent trepidation, the 
 blacksmith ironed my messmates, and then called to me 
 to descend and submit to his office. Coming — " Never 
 mind that lad," said my friend Captain Prentis. They 
 had but three or four pair of handcuffs left, which were 
 clapped on the elderly and robust. Besides M'Coy, our 
 Boniface the cook. Doctor Gibson, two others and my- 
 self, who were unhampered, all the rest were, in appear- 
 ance, tightly and firmly secured. Though M'Coy and 
 Boniface were adepts at insurrection, yet their services 
 were of too much importance to government to be dis- 
 pensed with. The others of the unfettered remained 
 so from the exhaustion of the shackles. A new species 
 of interesting occurrences, mingled with much fun and 
 sportive humor, now occurred, which was succeeded by 
 a series of horrible anguish. The doors were scarcely 
 closed, before we began to assay the unshackling. 
 Those who had small hands, by compressing the palms, 
 could easily divest the irons from their wrist. Of these 
 there were many, who became the assistants of their 
 friends, whose hands were larger. Here there was a 
 necessity for ingenuity. Knives notched as saws, were 
 the principal means. The head of the rivet, at the end 
 of. the bar, was sawed off, it was lengthened and a screw 
 formed upon it, to cap which a false head was made, 
 either of iron or of lead, resembling as much as possible 
 the true head. Again new rivets were formed, from 
 the iron we had preserved in our secret hoards, from the 
 vigilance of the searchers. These new rivets being 
 made to bear a strong likeness to the old, were then cut 
 into two parts — one part was driven into the bolt tightly, 
 became stationary, the other part was immovable. It 
 behoved the wearer of the manacle to look to it, that he 
 did not lose the loose part, and when the searchers 
 
i6o Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775' 
 
 came to examine, that it should stand firm in the orifice. 
 Some poor fellow, perhaps from a defect of ingenuity, 
 the hardness of the iron, or the want of the requisite 
 tools, could not discharge the bilboes. This was par- 
 ticularly the melancholy predicament of three of Mor- 
 gan's men, whose heels were too long to slip throjgh 
 the iron, which encompassed the small of the leg. It 
 was truly painful to see three persons attached to a 
 monstrous bar, the weight of which was above their 
 strength to carry. It added to the poignancy of their 
 sufferings, in such frigid weather, that their colleagues 
 at the bar, having shorter heels, could withdraw the foot 
 and perambulate the jail ; where their companions left 
 them, there they must remain, seated on the floor, unless 
 some kind hands assisted them to remove. . 
 
 There was a droll dog from the eastward who was 
 doubly unfortunate ; in the attack of the city he had 
 received a spent ball in the pit of the stomach, which 
 had nearly ended him ; now it became his lot to have an 
 immense foot bolt fastened to his leg, without a com- 
 panion to bear him company and cheer his lonely hours. 
 This victim of persecution and sorrow would sometimes 
 come among us in the yard, bearing up his bolt, slung 
 by a cord hitched over his shoulder. Nothing could 
 damp his spirits. He talked, laughed and sung inces- 
 santly. Some others besides those, were similarly 
 situated. Those who were so lucky as to have light 
 hand cuffs, bore them about with them. The greatest 
 danger of discovery arose from those who could free 
 themselves from the heavy irons. The usual visitations 
 were increased from twice to thrice a day, in the first 
 and last the smith searched the bolts of each person. 
 But there were other intrusions intermediately, by offi- 
 cers evidently despatched by the suspicions of govern- 
 ment, for the purpose of discovery. To counteract 
 these new measures of caution and jealousy, we were 
 well prepared. Sentries, on our part, were regularly 
 stationed at certain windows of the jail, to descry the 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, IJJS' ^^} 
 
 approach of any one in the garb of an officer. The 
 view from these windows was pretty extensive down two 
 of the streets, particularly that leading to the palace. 
 Notwithstanding every caution to avoid detection, yet 
 the clang of the lock of the great door, was upon some 
 occasions the only warning given us of the impending 
 danger. The scamperings at those times were truly 
 diverting, and having always escaped discovery, gave us 
 much amusement. The clanking of the fetters followed, 
 and was terrible ; such as the imagination forms in child- 
 hood, of the condition of the souls in Tartarus -, even 
 this was sport. Happily our real situation was never 
 known to any of the government officers ; unless the 
 good blacksmith (a worthy Irishman, of a feeling heart), 
 might be called such, and he was silent. 
 
 Towards the middle of April the scurvy, which we had 
 been imbibing during the winter, now made its appear- 
 ance in its most virulent and deadly forms, preceded and 
 accompanied by a violent diarrhoea. Many of those 
 who were first affected were taken to the hospital. But 
 the disease soon became general among us. We were 
 attended several times by Doctor Maybin, the physician- 
 general, who, by his tender attentions, and amiable man- 
 ners, won our affections : he recommended a cleansing 
 of the stomach, by ipecacuanha and mild cathartics, 
 such as rhubarb, together with due exercise. Those 
 who were young, active and sensible of the doctor's 
 salutary advice, kept afoot, and practiced every kind of 
 athletic sport we could devise. On the contrary, those 
 who were supinely indolent, and adhered to their blankets, 
 became objects of real commiseration — their limbs con- 
 tracted, as one of mine is now ; large blue and even 
 black blotches appeared on their bodies and limbs — the 
 gums became black — the morbid flesh fell away — the 
 teeth loosened, and in several instances fell out. Our minds 
 were now really depressed. That hilarity and fun which 
 supported our spirits in the greatest misfortunes, gave 
 way to wailings, groanings and death. I know, from 
 
1 62 Campaign against ^ebec^ '^77 5- 
 
 dire experience, that when the body suffers pain, the 
 mind, for the time, is deprived of all its exhilarations — 
 in short, almost of the power of thinking. The elbow 
 joints, the hips, the knees and ancles were most severely 
 pained. It was soon observed (though the doctor's 
 mate attended us almost daily, and very carefully), there 
 was little or no mitigation of our diseases, except that 
 the diarrhoea, which was derived from another cause 
 than that which produced the scurvy, was somewhat 
 abated ; and that our remedy lay elsewhere in the materia 
 medica which was beyond the grasp of the physician. The 
 diarrhoea came from the nature of the water we used 
 daily. In the month of April the snows begin to melt, 
 not by the heat of the sun, but most probably by the 
 warmth of the earth beneath the snows. The ground, 
 saturated with the snow-water, naturally increased the 
 fountain-head in the cellar. Literally, we drank the 
 melted snow. The scurvy had another origin. The 
 diet — salt pork, infamous biscuit — damp and close con- 
 finement in a narrow space, together with the severity 
 of the climate, were the true causes of the scurvy. 
 
 There was no doubt in any reflective mind among us, 
 but that the virtuous and beneficent Carleton, taking 
 into view his perilous predicament, did every thing for 
 us, which an honest man and a good Christian could. 
 
 An observation may be made in this place with pro- 
 priety, that is, that in the climates of all high southern 
 or northern regions, th'^ soil is very rich and prolific. 
 This beneficial operation of nature, is, in all likelihood at- 
 tributable to the nitrous qualities which the snow deposits. 
 Of the fact that nitre is the principal ingredient which 
 causes fertility in the earth, no man of observation can 
 at this day reasonably doubt. The earth is replete of 
 it. Wherever earth and shade unite, it is engendered 
 and becomes apparent. This idea is proved by the cir- 
 cumstance that nitre may be procured from caves, the 
 earth of cellars, outhouses, and even from common earth, 
 if kept under cover. During the late revolution, when 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ 1775- 163 
 
 powder was so necessary, we every where experienced 
 the good effects of this mineralogical discovery •, it gives 
 me pleasure to sav that it is most fairly ascribable to our 
 German ancestors. The snows which usually fail in 
 Canada about the middle of November, and generally 
 cover the ground until the end of April, in my opinion, 
 fill the soil with those vegetative salts, which forward 
 the growth of plants. This idea was evinced to me by 
 my vague and inconsiderate mind, from observations 
 then made, and which were more firmly established by 
 assurances from Captain Prentis, that muck or manure, 
 which we employ in southern climates, is there never 
 used. In that country, the moment the ground is freed 
 from snow, the grass and every species of plant, spring 
 forward in the most luxuriant manner. Captain Prentis, 
 besides the continuation of bis care and friendship to 
 Gibson and' myself, did not restrain his generosity to 
 individuals, but procured for us a permission from go- 
 vernment, to send out an old Irishman, of the New 
 York line, an excellent catholic, to collect for us vege- 
 table food- The first specimen of this good old man's 
 attention and industry, was the production of a large 
 basket-full of the ordinary blue grass of our country ; 
 this grass, by those who got at it, was devoured 
 ravenously at the basket, if so happy as to be able 
 to come near it. Scurvy grass, in many varieties, 
 eschalots, small onions, onion-tops and garlic, suc- 
 ceeded, and were welcomed by all of us for several 
 months afterwards. This voracious appetite for vege- 
 tables, seems to be an incident always concurring in that 
 terrible disease, the scurvy ; nature seems to instil into 
 the patient, a desire of such food, and of acids, which are 
 the only specific, with a due attention to cleanliness, 
 hitherto discovered, that do eradicate the stamina of the 
 disease. From my contracted knowledge, it is imper- 
 ceptible that there is any material discrepancy between 
 the sea-scurvy and the land-scurvy of high southern and 
 northern latitudes. The descriptions given by Robins 
 
164 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- 
 
 (or if you please, the Rev. Mr. Walter), and other voy- 
 agers, of the causes, the symptoms and the effects of 
 that disorder, seem to concur in everv particular w^ith 
 our various experience at Quebec. Recollect it is not 
 a physician who speaks." 
 
 About the time above spoke of Governor Carleton 
 directed that we should be supplied with fresh beef. 
 This was no other than that which had been brought 
 into the city when we lay at Aux-Tremble, in the 
 foregoing autumn, and in aid of the stores of the garri- 
 son. It had lain in a frozen state during the winter, 
 without salting, but now as warm weather was approach- 
 ing, it began to thaw and was liberally disposed of to 
 the garrison and prisoners. The beef was sweet, 
 though here and there a little blueish, like the mould of 
 stale bread, very tender, but somewhat mawkish. It 
 was palatable and nutritive to men afflicted as we were. 
 This beef, connected with vegetables, soon animated us 
 with an idea of returning health and vigor ; yet, though 
 it mitigated the pains we endured, it did not totally ex- 
 pel the scurvy. 
 
 The seventh of May arrived. Two ships came to 
 the aid of the garrison, heating through a body of ice, 
 which perhaps was impervious to any other than the in- 
 trepid sailor. This relief of men and stores, created 
 great joy in the town. Our army began their disorderly 
 retreat. My friend Simpson, with his party, were 
 much misused, from a neglect of giving him information 
 of the intended flight of our army. Some few of the 
 men under his authority, straggled and were taken in the 
 retreat. They came to inhabit our house. Now, for 
 the first time, we heard an account of the occurrences 
 during the winter's blockade, which to us, though of 
 
 'The late Captain Thomas Boyd, the strongest and largest man among 
 us, when coming to the air, frequently fainted ; one Rothrock, of Morgan's, 
 had so fetid a breath that it was disgusting to enter the room he inhabited ; 
 one of Lamb's company lost his gums and some of his teeth, all were loose, 
 of which I am certain as his mouth was examined by me. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- ^^5 
 
 trivial import, were immensely interesting. The sally 
 of this day, produced to the prisoners additional comfort. 
 Though the troops took a severe revenge upon our 
 friends without, by burning and destroying their pro- 
 perties. The next day, more ships and troops arrived ; 
 a pursuit took place, the effect of which was of no con- 
 sequence, except so far as it tended to expel the colonial 
 troops from Canada. To the prisoners, this retreat had 
 pleasing consequences; fresh bread, beef newly slaugh- 
 tered, and a superabundance of vegetables, was a salu- 
 tary diet to our reduced and scorbutic bodies. Still 
 freedom, that greatest of blessings, and exercise were re- 
 quired to bring back to us genuine health. About this 
 time an incident occurred, which threw us into ecstasy, 
 as it relieved our minds and faculties from a most tortur- 
 ing piece of preservative duty ; this was no other than 
 an authoritative divestment of the irons. One day, . 
 perhaps the fifteenth or eighteenth of May, Colonel Mac- 
 lean, attended by Major Carleton, a younger brother of 
 the general's. Major Maibaum,' a German officer, both 
 of whom had just arrived from Europe, together with 
 Captain Prentis, and other officers, entered the jail about 
 mid-day. The prisoners paraded in the jail-yard com- 
 pletely ironed. Captain Prentis, by the direction of 
 
 ' This gentleman was six feet and four or five inches high and as well pro- 
 portioned. His disposition was a kindly one. He spoke his own language 
 admirably, and French fluently, but no English. Knowing from his mili- 
 tary dress and manners, that he was a German, I was induced to address 
 him in that language. He appeared astonished, yet pleased at hearing his 
 own tongue from an American lad, inquired concerning Pennsylvania, our 
 way to Quebec, etc., but seemed apprehensive of the jealousy of the English 
 officials, who did not understand us. The Baron Knyphausen wanted an 
 interpreter. Captain Prentis, who was really my friend, made me the pro- 
 position, as from the Baron, and used various arguments ro induce a com- 
 pliance, all of which were spurned. In 1778 or 1779, I had again the 
 pleasure of seeing the major at Lancaster, in the company of my father, 
 but he was then a prisoner. — Henry. 
 
 This is supposed to have been Major Juste Christoph von Maibom, who 
 was taken prisoner at Bennington, and died at Wolfenbuttel, duchy of 
 Brunswick, in Germany, 17 Feb., 1804. — M. 
 
1 66 Campaign against ^ebec, 1775. 
 
 Colonel iVIaclean, pointed out to the other officers : 
 " This is general such-a-one, — that is colonel such-a- 
 one," and in this manner proceeded to name all the 
 leading characters. Happening to be very near the 
 amiable, it might be said, admirable Major Carleton, 
 he was overheard to say, " Colonel, ambition is laudable ; 
 cannot the irons of these men be struck off?" This 
 the colonel ordered to be done immediately. Our 
 kind-hearted blacksmith w^as not distant : he came and 
 the officers remained to see some of the largest bolts 
 divested, and then left us. " Come, come, gentlemen," 
 said the blacksmith, " you can put off your irons." In 
 a minute, the vast pile lay before him. Being now at 
 full bodily liberty, we completed a ball court, which had 
 been originally formed, as it were, by stealth. Here a 
 singular phenomenon which attends the scurvy, dis- 
 ^covered itself. The venerable and respectable Maybin 
 had recommended to us exercise, not only as a mean of 
 cure, but as a preventive of the scorbutic humors operat- 
 ing. Four of the most active would engage at a game 
 oi fives. Having played some games in continuation, if 
 a party incautiously sat down, he was seized by the 
 most violent pains in the hips and knees, which incapa- 
 citated him from play for many hours, and from rising 
 from the earth, where the patient had seated himself. 
 These pains taught us to keep afoot all day, and even to 
 eat our food in an erect posture. Going to bed in the 
 evening, after a hard day's play, those sensations of 
 pain upon lying down, immediately attacked us. The 
 pain would continue half an hour, and often longer. 
 My own experience will authorize me to say two hours. 
 In the morning, we rose free from pain, and the routine 
 of play and fatigue ensued, but always attended by the 
 same effects, particularly to the stubborn and incautious, 
 who would not adhere to the wholesome advice of Doctor 
 Maybin. Those who were inactive, retained those ex- 
 cruciating pains to the last, together with their distorted, 
 bloated, and blackened limbs. Upon our return from 
 
Campaign against ^uebec^ '^11 S' ^^7 
 
 Canada, in the autumn of 1776, I saw five or six of my 
 crippled compatriots hobbling through the streets of 
 Lancaster on their way home. It cost a tear — all that 
 could be given. By the month of August, the active 
 were relieved from those pains. 
 
 Towards the end of May, Governor Carleton ordered 
 each of the prisoners a linen shirt. This gift, to me, 
 was most agreeable, as linen next the skin, for some 
 months past, was unfelt, and few persons who have not 
 felt the extremity of such endurances as ours, can form 
 a full conception of the gratification we enjoyed. Having 
 had but one shirt on at the time ot our capture, it was 
 soon destroyed by the wearing, and the repeated washings 
 it required. Delicacy forbids a dilation upon the cause 
 and effects. You would laugh at the description of one 
 of our washing parties. Rising early, the prime object 
 was to make a strong ley of wood ashes, of which we 
 had plenty, into which the linen was plunged, and con- 
 cocted for an hour or more, under a hope of putting an 
 end to certain vagrants, of a genera with which most of 
 us are acquainted. During the boiling, the votaries of 
 cleanliness, cloaked in a blanket, or blanket coat, watched 
 the ebullitions of the kettle. The boiling done, the 
 linen was borne to the yard, where each one washed his 
 own, and watched it during the drying, almost in a state 
 of nature. Captain Prentis, pitying my sad condition, 
 pressed upon me often to accept from him, money to 
 purchase a suit of clothes, and he would trust to the 
 honor and integrity of my father for payment, whose 
 character he knew. Adhering to my first determination, 
 this polite and generous proposal of my amiable and de 
 serving friend was as often, yet most thankfully declined, 
 maugre the advice of my bosom friends Boyd and 
 Cunningham to the contrary. He however forced upon 
 me a half Johannes. This small sum was applied to the 
 solace of my heart. In the first place, to an article still 
 more necessary than a shirt. The residue was expended 
 upon matters which cheered the hearts of my messmates. 
 
1 68 Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- 
 
 whom I dearly loved ; cheese, sugar, tea, coffee, etc., 
 spirits was detested, as we knew it to be a poison to 
 scorbutic persons. What pleased me much more, and 
 gave me pure delight, was the following occurrence : 
 Of my own accord, no one knowing of the intention, 
 the good old Irishman was delegated to purchase three 
 or four pounds of tobacco. It was secretly brought, 
 and as secretly borne to our room. A pound was pro- 
 duced and fairly parted among our tobacco chewers. 
 You cannot conceive their joy. When the first paroxysm 
 was over, the remainder was disposed of in the same 
 way. The thankfulness of those brave, but destitute 
 men, arose towards me, nearly to adoration. You will 
 ask why ? Hear the reason. From your small knowlege 
 of mankind, you can have little conception of the force 
 habit has on the human race. One who chews, smokes 
 or snuffs tobacco, is as little able to abstain from that 
 enjoyment, as you would be, if compelled to refrain from 
 your usual meals. This particular is spoken of, to 
 persuade you by no mean to use tobacco in any shape. 
 It is a poison, of the most inveterate kind, which like 
 opium, arsenic, anri several other medicaments, may be 
 applied to healthful purposes, yet, if employed in an 
 extreme degree, produces instantaneous death. These 
 ideas are not visionary, but are supportable by the authority 
 of some of the best physicians. You are at full liberty 
 to put your own constructions upon these observations. 
 But to return to my fellow-prisoners. 
 
 In the wilderness where the army soon run out the 
 article of tobacco, the men had many valuable succeda- 
 neums. The barks of the different kinds of firs, the 
 cedar, the red willow,' and the leaves of many astrin- 
 
 ' Red willow [Salix purpurea). This shrub, which is a native of the 
 United States, is spread throughout our climates. The outer bark of a deep 
 red color, peels in a very thin scale, the inner is scraped oft" with a knite, 
 and is dried either in the sun or over the fire. The scent when burning, 
 is delightful. To increase the flavor, the Indians pluck the current year's 
 branches of the upland sumach, and dry it in bunches over the smoke of 
 
 I 
 
Campaign against ^ueoec^ ^775- ^^9 
 
 gent or bitter plants supplied the place; but within the 
 bare walls of our jail there was no substitute for this 
 dear and inebriating vegetable. Thus was all my money 
 expended and much to my satisfaction and to the heart- 
 felt pleasure of my brave and worthy-companions, whose 
 sufferings in certain points, were greater than my own. 
 The table of the virtuous and generous Prentis had 
 often furnished me liberally with wholesome viands. 
 With convalescency, though pennyless, we again became 
 merry and lighthearted. 
 
 In the beginning of August we were told by Captain 
 Preniis, that the governor had concluded to send us by 
 sea to New York upon parole for the purpose of being 
 exchanged ; that the transports which had brought the 
 late reinforcements from Europe, were cleansing and 
 preparing for the voyage. Now there was exultation. 
 On the seventh of August we subscribed our written 
 
 a fire. A half part of red-willow bark, added to as much of the dryed 
 sumach forms the killiknick. Those ingredients added to a third part of 
 leaf tobacco, and the mass rubbed finely together in the palm of the hand, 
 makes that delicious fume, so fascinating to the red, and also to the white 
 men. Care must be taken by the consumer, not to use the swamp sumach 
 i^Rbus -vernix) for the upland [Rhus g/abrum) as the former is most poison- 
 ous, and resembles the latter, in the bark and leaf so much, that an in- 
 curious eye might be deceived. The difference to a stranger may be 
 distinctively marked by observing that the bunch of berries of the upland 
 sumach, is a cone closely attached to each other, and when ripe of a reddish 
 color. The berries of the swamp sumach hang loosely pendant, from a 
 lengthy foot-stalk, and when ripe, are of a greenish-gray : at least I never 
 saw the berry in any other state. The unhappy person who would em- 
 ploy the swamp sumach in smoking, would forfeit his eyesight. This truth 
 I had from Natanis in Canada, and it has since, many years ago, been con- 
 firmed to me by the celebrated Seneca, The Cornplanter. You know 
 the experience of our own family, when clearing the swamp, as to the 
 deleterious qualities of the wood as fuel : your mother suffered greatly 
 from its poisonous vapors. The moose-deer prefer the red-willow as food ; 
 we most frequently observed them in its neighborhood. The vanilla of 
 South America, has been applied by the Spanish manufactors of tobacco, 
 in various ways : it is strange, that we have never assayed the killikinick. — 
 Henry, 
 
 15 
 
lyo Campaign against ^ebec^ ^11 S- 
 
 paroles.^ Captain Prentis procured me permission from 
 government with a few friends to traverse the city. An 
 officer of the garrison attended us. Our first desire 
 was to see the grave of our general, and those of his 
 aids, as well as those of the beloved Hendricks and 
 Humphreys. The graves were within a small place of 
 interment, neatly walled with stone. The coffins of 
 Montgomery, Cheeseman and M'Pherson, were well 
 arranged side by side. Those of Hendricks, Humphreys, 
 Cooper, etc., were arranged on the south side of the 
 inclosure, but as the burials of these heroes took place 
 in a dreary winter, and the earth impenetrable, there was 
 but little soil on ihe coffins, the snow and ice which had 
 been the principal covering being now dissolved, the 
 foot of the general's coffin was exposed to the air and 
 view. The coffin was well formed of fir plank. Cap- 
 tain Prentis assured me that the graves should be 
 deepened and the bodies duly deposited ; for he also 
 knew Montgomery as a fellow soldier, and lamented his 
 untimely fate. Thence we proceeded past the citadel, 
 along the ramparts to Cape Diamond, descended the 
 declivity slantingly, and examined the stockades and 
 block house. It is this little tour which enabled me to 
 describe to you the site and defences of that formidable 
 pass. Proceeding thence through a part of the lower 
 town, we came to a narrow street which led us to an 
 immense stair way, one of the ascents into the upper 
 town. Ascending here we came to the main passage, 
 which curvatured down the hill into the lower town. 
 
 ' It will perhaps be proper to give you an idea of the parole exacted at 
 that time. " We whose names are hereunder written, do solemnly promise 
 and engage, to his Excellency General Carleton, not to say or do any thing 
 against his majesty's person or government ; and to repair, whenever re- 
 quired so to do by his excellency, or any of his majesty's commanders in 
 chief in America, doth please to direct, in testimony of which, we have 
 hereunto set our hands this day at Quebec. August 7th, 1776. 
 
 J. J. H.&c." 
 
 I received the original paper in 1778, in consequence ot an exchange of 
 the St. John's prisoners for us. — Henry. 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^77 S- ^7^ 
 
 and which was to lead us in our supposed attack upon 
 the upper town ; this we pursued and came to the place 
 of the second barrier, which had been lately demolished. 
 The houses on both sides of the street in which we had 
 taken our stand, were now in ruins, having been burnt 
 by the garrison as were the suburbs of St, Roque and 
 St. Johns. This was done to render them unfit for the 
 shelter of future assailants. Thus it is that war destroys 
 the wealth and robs the individual of happiness. We 
 had no time to make observations but such as could be 
 done in passing hastily. Returning to the upper town 
 by the principal and winding road, we were strongly im- 
 pressed with the opinion that if our whole force, as was 
 intended, had formed a junction in the lower town, that 
 it was utterly impracticable, either from our numbers or 
 our means, to mount by a road such as this was. Sup- 
 pose it not to have been barricaded and enfiladed by 
 cannon, it must be assailed by the bavonet, ot which 
 weapon we had very few and the enemv was fully sup- 
 plied. But when we reflect that across the road at the 
 centre of the arc of each curve there was a barricade, 
 and cannon placed to rake the intervals between the 
 different barricades, the difficulties of the ascent, which 
 is very steep, would be increased even to insurmounta- 
 bility. The road is very narrow and lined next the hill 
 by a stupendous precipice ; on the other hand there were 
 some houses romantically perched on the side of the 
 declivity, and some rocks. The declivitv of itself was 
 an excellent defence if the besieged could maintain the 
 position in front, for in a short time, in so confined a 
 space, the assailants mu~,t either die, retreat, or be thrown 
 down the hill from the road. But suppose all these 
 defences overcome, and we had arrived at the brow of 
 the hill at the entrance of the upper town, here a still 
 more formidable obstacle presented itself than those 
 which could be formed by art in the lower parts of the 
 road. At this place there is a hollow way, which in the 
 hurry we were in and the slight view we dared take, ap- 
 
172 Campaign against Quebec ^ '^11 S- 
 
 peared as if cut out of the solid rock, of a depth of thirty 
 or forty feet. Athwart this way there was a strong 
 stockade of a height nearly equal with the perpendicular 
 sides of the way or gulley. From the surface above we 
 might have been stoned to death by the defenders of the 
 fortress without a probability of their receiving harm 
 from us below, though ever so well armed. But the 
 stockade itself, from its structure and abundant strength, 
 would have resisted a force manifold our numbers, and 
 much better supplied and accoutred. From these observ- 
 ations (those of an uninstructed youth to be sure), 
 there was no hesitation in telling my intimate friends, 
 then and since, that the scheme of the conquest of the 
 upper town was visionary and groundless \ not the result 
 of our dear general's reflections, but forced upon him by 
 the nature and necessities of the times and his disagree- 
 able predicament. If a coalition of our forces in the 
 lower town had taken effect, the general would then 
 most probably have developed his latent and real plans. 
 The reasons given in council may have been promul- 
 gated merely to induce a more spirited exertion upon 
 the part of the officers and soldiery, who were not in the 
 secret, to excite a factitious valor. Getting into serious 
 action and warmed by the opposition of the enemy, the 
 troops might have been induced to persevere in any 
 apparently sudden design of the general. The cupidity 
 of the soldiers had been played upon. This latter fact 
 is known to me of my own particular knowledge. Some 
 weeks before the attack the soldiers in their common 
 conversations, spoke of the conquest of the city as a 
 certainty ; and exultingly of the plunder they should 
 win by their bravery. It was not my business to con- 
 tradict, but to urge them on. Perhaps the setting fire 
 to the lower town on the side of Cape Diamond, con- 
 sidering the prevailing wind which was at southeast, 
 but afterwards changed to north and northwest, such a 
 design might have been effected. The shipping also 
 ice-bound, numerous and valuable, moored around the 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ ^775- ^73 
 
 point, would have been consumable. All this destruc- 
 tion would have been a victory of no mean kind ; but 
 adding eclat to the known gallantrv and prowess of the 
 general. The Almightv willed that we should never 
 know the pith or marrow of his projects ; whatever thev 
 were, my mind is assured that they were considerately 
 and well designed. He was not a man to act incau- 
 tiously and without motive, and too honest and brave 
 to adopt a sinister part. No doubt we could have 
 escaped by the way of St. Roque, protected by the 
 smoke of the conflagration, and the terror and bustle 
 which would consequently be created in the town. 
 Though this pass is too narrow for the operation of a 
 large body of men in an extended front, still we should 
 have been too numerous (under the circumstances sup- 
 posed), for the enemy to afford a force issuing from 
 palace gate, adequate to oppose us. In the next instance 
 if we should happen to be so very fortunate in such a 
 retreat, as to bat the foes, they must retreat into the city 
 by the wav of palace gate, and we should have entered 
 pell-mell, and should thus have achieved the possession 
 of that important place, the upper town, which was the 
 primary view and last hope of the general and the army. 
 These were the crude notions of a vouth formed upon 
 the spot, but in a maturation of thirty years, are still 
 retained. 
 
 The general did not want for information. Many 
 persons, male and female (unnecessary mouths), were 
 expelled the city, to wander for subsistence among their 
 friends in the country. His own knowledge of Quebec, 
 where he had served, would enable him bv interrogation 
 to extort from those emigrants a full stock of inform- 
 ation of all the new defences erected by Governor Carleton 
 since. Consequently, knowing the practicability of 
 Cape Diamond [^Aunce de mere^ which must be provin- 
 cial, and I do not understand), as an entrance to the 
 lower town (but a most dangerous one), and that ol 
 St. Roque, with which and its barriers, he was particularfy 
 
174 Campaign against ^ebec^ 1775. 
 
 acquainted, from his own, and the observations of others ; 
 if so, he would most assuredly be informed of the defens- 
 ive obstructions on the slope of the hill, and the encloy- 
 ment of the troops, which would in consequence attend ; 
 and he would also know that this place, to the garrison, 
 would be a perfect Thermopylae, impassable by ten times 
 our numbers, if we had been veterans and were better 
 furnished. From these reasons, there was an induce- 
 ment for my mind, at all times since the attack, to 
 conclude that it was never General Montgomery's real 
 design to conquer the upper town, by an invasion from 
 the lower town, but his hidden and true plan was, by a 
 consolidation of our whole force, to burn the lower 
 town, and the shipping, and to retreat by the way of 
 palace gate and St. Roque. ii a sally was made at 
 palace gate, the event, as was observed before, niight 
 be fatal to the enemy. The comprehensive mind of 
 Montgomery would not only appreciate to the full ex- 
 tent the peculiar advantages of the enemy, but estimate 
 to its true value the means he possessed, and the merits 
 of his own army. Presuming the colonists to be suc- 
 cessful in the lower town, where there was much 
 wealth, and the avaricious among us be in some degree 
 gratified, it would have created a spirit of hope and en- 
 terprise in the men, tending to induce them to remain 
 with us. Afterwards, combining our whole force, with 
 the reinforcements we had a prospect of receiving, an 
 attack upon the upper town might have succeeded. In 
 a word the destruction of the lower town, in my appre- 
 hension, should be considered merely as preparatory to 
 a general assailment of the upper town, notwithstanding 
 all that has been said in the memoirs of those days. A 
 contrary opinion went abroad " that the general, if he 
 had lived, by this assault would have conquered Quebec." 
 No idea could be more fallacious. It was politically 
 right to keep up that opinion among the people in those 
 trying times, but its accomplishment, with our accompani- 
 ment of men and defective arms, was ideal. Our walk 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^11 S- ^75 
 
 from the great gate and palisade, was considerable, ere 
 we reached our detestable dwelling ; as we had enjoyed 
 a few hours of fleeting liberty, the locking-up became 
 the more horrible to our feelings. The next day, 
 however, we had the ineffable pleasure of marching in 
 a body to the water side, and embarked on board five 
 transports. On the following day a new joy was in 
 store for me. General William Thompson (of whom 
 it might well be said, '' this is a man "), who had com- 
 manded our regiment at Prospect hill, as its colonel: he 
 had been taken prisoner at the Three rivers, with several 
 other officers, in the preceding month of June. He was 
 now aboard of our little fleet, destined to New York. 
 Thompson came to our ship, to visit rhe miserable 
 remnant of a part of his gallant corps. The general had 
 a special message to me, from my father, with whom he 
 was intimate. Coming through Lancaster in his way 
 to his command in Canada, he was authorized by my 
 father, if he saw me in that country, to furnish me with 
 money. The good man proffered me four half-johannes, 
 one only was accepted. What was nearer and dearer to 
 my heart, was the information that my parents, relatives 
 and friends were well. That money was applied to the 
 use of my messmates, in the way of sea-stores. Permis- 
 sion being obtained, Bovd and myself went ashore ; our 
 purchases consisted of a very large Cheshire cheese, 
 coffee, tea and sugar, together with a large roll of tobacco 
 for the men. Again pennyless, jollity and mirth did 
 not forsake us. 
 
 We sailed on the tenth of August, convoyed by the 
 Pearl frigate. Captain M'Kenzie. Passing the delight- 
 ful island of Orleans, much in shore, we observed the 
 farmers reaping their wheat, which, as we run along, we 
 could observe the haum, in many instances, was green 
 towards the foot of the stalk. From this circumstance 
 it was concluded, that frequently, particularly in cold or 
 wet seasons the grain must be kiln-dried, as it is done in 
 the north of England, and in Scotland, before it is housed 
 
176 Campaign against Quebec, 1775. 
 
 and threshed. The wheat, though sown between the 
 fifteenth and twentieth of May, and probably sometimes 
 earher or later, is weighty, and produces a very fine 
 white flour. The voyage down the river, except a few 
 boisterous days, wns pleasant. We had some noble 
 views, interspersed here and there with something like 
 villages, chapels, and farm-houses. Afterwards, we had 
 in prospect a bleak and dreary coast and country, whose 
 craggedness inspired disagreeable sensations. The great- 
 est curiosities were the seals, whose history and manners 
 were then known to me, but whose living form excited 
 attention, as they were creeping up or basking on the 
 rocks. The porpoises, perfectly white, in vast droves 
 played before and around us, and drew my attention and 
 surprise, as none but the black southern porpoise had 
 before come under my view. To become a naturalist, 
 it is necessary a man should travel ; it was many years 
 before books could persuade me of the existence of a 
 green-haired monkey ; but these were diminutive objects 
 indeed in nature's scale, of comparative imagery, when 
 contrasted with the immense river Cadaracqua, or as it is 
 now called St. Lawrence, second to no river in the 
 world, unless it be the La Plata, of South America. 
 Making this observation, you must understand me to in- 
 clude within it, the Lake Superior, and the waters which 
 feed that lake. OfF Gaspy Point, where we soon 
 arrived, in a due north line, across the island of Anti- 
 costa, the river is about ninety miles wide. Steering 
 with favorable weather, the island of St. Johns came in 
 view ; passing it, and the Gut of Canceaux, experienc- 
 ing some stormy weather upon the ocean, and a few 
 difficulties, we happily arrived at New York on the 
 eleventh of September, 1776, and anchored three miles 
 south of Governor's island. Now it was, for the 
 first time, that we heard of the dilemma in which our 
 country stood. 
 
 The battle of Long Island, on the twenty-seventh of 
 August, had been unsuccessfully fought by our troops, 
 
Campaign against ^ebec^ '^11 S- ^11 
 
 many of whom were prisoners. In such hurrying times, 
 intercourses between hostile armies in the way of nego- 
 tiation upon any point, are efFected with difficulty. We 
 had waited patiently several weeks, to be disembarked 
 on our own friendly shore ; yet tantalized every day 
 with reports that to-morrow we should be put on shore ; 
 some, and in a little while all, began to fear it was the 
 intention of General Howe to detain us as prisoners in 
 opposition to the good will of Sir Guy Carleton. This 
 notion had so strongly impressed the minds of my friend 
 Doctor Thomas Gibson, and a young man called John 
 Blair, of Hendricks, that they determined to escape 
 from the ship. They were, both of them, athletic and 
 able bodied men, and most adroit. Gibson planned the 
 manner of escape ; its ingeniousness, hazard, boldness 
 of execution and eventual success, received the applause 
 of all, but was disapproved, upon the principle that it 
 trenched upon their honor, and would impede our release. 
 The story is this : Gibson and Blair, in the evening, 
 dressed in shirts and trowsers, were upon the main deck 
 with their customary flapped hats on their heads. Gib- 
 son gave me a squeeze of the hand in token of farewell ; 
 he was greeted kindly, for he was the brother of my 
 soul. He and his companion went to the forecastle, 
 where there were two large New Foundland dogs, each 
 of which had his party, or rather his partizans among 
 the crew. These, the adventurers hissed at each other. 
 The dogs being engaged with their usual fury, attracted 
 the attention of the sailors and many of the prisoners ,• 
 they took this opportunity of stripping and letting them- 
 selves down at the bow into the water. Leaning over 
 the sides of the ship, in company of some friends in the 
 secret, and unregardful of the dogs, we awaited the 
 management of the flight. The last lighted cloud ap- 
 peared low in the west. Something extraordinary passed 
 along the side, a foolish fellow asked, " what is that ?" 
 "a wave, you fool — a mere deception of sight," was 
 answered. It was the head of Gibson, covered by his 
 
1 7 8 Campaign against ^ebec, ^11 S- 
 
 large black hat. Within a few yards of Gibson came 
 Blair, but with a smaller hat, he was obvious ; his white 
 skin discovered him, but luckily the attention of the 
 ignoramus was engaged another way. These daring 
 men swam to the barge at the stern, entered it, and 
 slipped the rope. They had rowed a thousand yards 
 before the boat was missed. The other boats of our 
 ship, and of those near us, were despatched after the 
 runaways ; it was too late, the fugitives had too much of 
 a start to be easily overtaken. They landed (having 
 rowed about five miles), naked, in our own country, 
 somewhere in the vicinity of Bergen-neck, and bartered 
 the boat for some ordinary clothing. They waited on 
 General Washington, who disapproved of their demeanor. 
 A short time after the foregoing occurrence, a most 
 beautiful and luminous, but baleful sight occurred to us, 
 that is, vhe city of New York on fire. One night 
 (Sept. 22), the watch on deck gave a loud notice of this 
 disaster. Running upon deck we could perceive a light, 
 which at the distance we were from it (four miles), was 
 apparently of the size of the flame of a candle. This 
 light to me, appeared to be the burning of an old and 
 noted tavern, called the Fighting Cock (where, ere this 
 I had lodged), to the east of the battery, and near the 
 wharf. The wind was southwardly, and blew a fresh 
 gale the flames at this place, because of the wind, in- 
 creased rapidly. In a moment we saw another light at 
 a great distisnce from the first, up the North river. The 
 latter light seemed to he an original, distin; t and new 
 formed fire, near a celebrated tavern in the Broadway 
 called White Hall. Our anxiety for the fate of so fine 
 a city, caused much solicitude, as we harbored suspicions 
 that the enemy had fired it. The flames were fanned 
 by the briskness of the breeze, and drove the destructive 
 effects of the element on all sides. When the fire reached 
 the spire of a large steeple, south of the tavern, which 
 was attached to a large church, the effect upon the eye 
 was astonishingly grand. If we could have divested 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, ^775' ^79 
 
 ourselves of the knowledge that it was the property of 
 our fellow-citizens which was consuming, the view might 
 have been esteemed sublime, if not pleasing. The deck 
 of our ship for many hours was lighted as at noon day. 
 In the commencement of the conflagration we observed 
 many boats putting off from the fleet, rowing speedily 
 towards the city ; our boat was of the number. This 
 circumstance repelled the idea that our enemies were 
 the incendiaries, for indeed they professedly went in aid 
 of the inhabitants. The boat returned about daylight, 
 and from the relation of the officer and the crew, we 
 clearly discerned that the burning of New York was the 
 act of some mad-cap Americans. The sailors told us 
 in their blunt manner, that they had seen one American 
 hanging by the heels dead, having a bayonet wound 
 through his breast. They named him by his Christian 
 and surname, which they saw imprinted on his arm ; they 
 averred he was caught in the fact of firing the houses. 
 They told us, also, that they had seen one person who 
 was taken in the fact, tossed into the fire, and that 
 several who were stealing, and suspected as incendiaries, 
 were bayonetted. Summary justice is at no time laud- 
 able, but in this instance it may have been correct. If 
 the Greeks could have been resisted at Persepolis, every 
 soul of them ought to have been massacred. The testi- 
 mony we received from the sailors, my own view ot the 
 distinct beginnings of the fire, in various spots, remote 
 from each other, and the manner of its spreading, im 
 pressed my mind with the belief that the burning ot the 
 city was the doings of the most low and vile of persons, 
 for the purposes, not only of thieving, but ot devastation. 
 This seemed, too, the general sense, not only of the 
 British, but that of the prisoners then aboard the trans- 
 ports. Laying directly south of the city, and in a range 
 with Broadway, we had a fair and full view of the whole 
 process. The persons in the ships nearer to the town 
 than we were, uniformly held the same opinion. It was 
 not until some years afterwards, that a doubt was created ; 
 
i8o Campaign against ^ebec, ^775- 
 
 but for the honor of our country and its good name, an 
 ascription was made of the firing of the city, to acci- 
 dental circumstances. It may be well, that a nation, in 
 the heat and turbulence of war, should endeavor to pro- 
 mote its interests, by the propagating reports of its own 
 innocency and prowess, and accusing its enemy of fla- 
 grant enormity and dastardliness (as was done in this 
 particular case), but when peace comes, let us in God's 
 name do justice to them and ourselves. Baseness and 
 villainy are the growth of all climes, and of all nations. 
 Without the most numerous, and the most cogent tes- 
 timony, as the fact occurred within my own view, the 
 eloquence of Cicero could not convince me that the 
 firing was accidental. Some time after the burning of 
 the city, we understood that we were to be embarked in 
 shallops, and landed at Elizabethtown point. 
 
 The intelligence c;iused a sparkling in every eye. 
 On the next day about noon, we were in the boats ; 
 adverse winds retarded us. It was ten or eleven at 
 night, before we landed ; the moon shone beautifully. 
 Morgan stood in the bow of the boat ; making a spring 
 not easily surpassed, and falling on the earth, as it were 
 to grasp it — cried " Oh my country." We that were 
 near him pursued his example. Now a race commenced 
 which in quickness, could scarcely be exceeded, and 
 soon brought us to Elizabethtown. Here, those of us 
 who were drowsy, spent an uneasy night Being un- 
 expected guests, and the town full of troops, no quarters 
 were provided for us. Joy rendered beds useless, we 
 did not close our eyes till daylight Singing, dancing, 
 the Indian halloo, in short, every species of vociferous- 
 ness was adopted by the men, and many of the most 
 respectable sergeants, to express their extreme pleasure. 
 A stranger coming among them, would have pronounced 
 them mad, or at last intoxicated ; though since noon, 
 neither food nor liquor had passed our lips ; thus the 
 passions may at times have an influence on the human 
 frame, as inebriating as wine or any other liquor. The 
 
Campaign against ^ebec, 1775- t^i 
 
 morning brought us plenty, in the form of rations of 
 beef and bread. Hunger allaved, my only desire was 
 to proceed homewards. Money was wanting. How to 
 obtain it in a place where all my friends and acquaintances 
 were alike poor and destitute, gave me great anxiety and 
 pain. Walking up the street very melancholy, unknow- 
 ing what to do, I observed a wagon built in the Lancaster 
 county fashion (which at that time was peculiar in Jer- 
 sey), unloading stores for the troops come or coming. 
 The owner seeing me, grasping my hand with fervor, 
 told me every one believed me to be dead. Telling 
 him our story in a compendious manner, the good old 
 man, without solicitation, presented me two silver dcllars 
 to be repaid at Lancaster, They were gladly received.* 
 My heart became easy. The next day, in company 
 with the late Colonel Febiger and the present General 
 Nichols, and some other gentlemen, we procured a light 
 return wagon which gave us a cast as far as Princeton, 
 Here "we had the pleasure of conversing with Dr. With- 
 erspoon, who was the first that informed us of a reso- 
 lution of congress to augment the army. It gave u 
 pleasure, as we had devoted ourselves individually, tc 
 the service of our country. The next day, if not in- 
 correct, we proceeded on foot, no carriage of any kind 
 being procurable. Night brought us up at a farm-house 
 somewhere near Bristol, The owner was one of us^ that 
 is, a genuine whig. He requested us to tarry all night, 
 which we declined. He presented us a supper that was 
 gratefully received. Hearing our story, he was much 
 affected. We then tried to prevail on him to take us to 
 Philadelphia in his light wagon. It was objected that it 
 stood loaded with hay in the barn floor ; his sons were 
 asleep or abroad. We removed these objections by 
 unloading the hay while this good citizen prepared the 
 
 ' Who do you think this was ? Why Stephen Lutz, of Lancaster — 
 poor" but industrious. I have thanked him a thousand times since, and 
 have had the pleasure of obliging him. — Henry. 
 
 IG 
 
1 82 Campaign against ^ebec, ^775- 
 
 horses. Mounting, we arrived at the Harp and Crown 
 about two o'clock in the morning. To us it was most 
 agreeable that we passed through the streets of Philadel- 
 phia in the night time, as our clothing was not only 
 threadbare but shabby. Here we had friends and funds. 
 A gentleman advanced me a sum sufficient to enable me 
 to exchange my leggins and moccasins, for a pair of 
 stockings and shoes, and to bear my expenses home. A 
 day and a half brought me to the arms of my beloved 
 parents. 
 
 At Philadelphia, I waited upon a cousin of my mother's, 
 Mr. Owen Biddle, then a member of the council of 
 safety, who informed me that while in captivity, he had 
 procured me a lieutenancy. My heart was otherwise 
 engaged. Morgan the hero ! had promised and obtained 
 forme, a captaincy in the Virginia line. Following the 
 fortunes of that bold and judicious commander, my name 
 might have been emblazoned in the rolls of patriotic 
 fame. But alas ! in the course of eight weeks after my 
 return from captivity, a slight cold, caught when skating 
 on the ice of the Susquehanna, or in pursuing the wild- 
 turkey among the Kittatinny hills, put an end to all my 
 visionary schemes of ambition. This cause renewed 
 that abominable disorder, the scurvy (which I had sup- 
 posed was expelled from my system), accompanied by 
 every morbid symptom, which had been so often observed 
 at Quebec, attendant upon others. The medical men 
 of all classes, being engaged in the army, that species 
 of assistance was unattainable, in the degree requisite; 
 lameness, as you now observe it, was the consequence. 
 Would to God ! my extreme sufferings had then ended 
 a life, which since has been a tissue of labor, pain, and 
 misery. 
 
 The End. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The following letters written from Canada respecting 
 the Invasion of that Province by Arnold and Mont- 
 gomery, are taken from the Pennsylvania Journal and 
 Weekly Advertiser^ Jan. 3, 1776. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from an officer under Col. Arnold, dated at Point aux 
 Tremble [in Canada), No'v. 21, 1 775. 
 
 '' The last letter I wrote you was from thd Dead river, Oct. 24, which 'tis 
 probable you have never received. At that time our difficulties seemed to 
 increase. We had a very rapid river to encounter with our boats, and a 
 thick wilderness for those that marched by land ; many places, some miles 
 in length, of cedar swamp, hills, etc., but all these were tolerable while pur 
 provisions were plenty. At the head of Chaudiere lake, which is an hun- 
 dred and some miles from the Canadian settlements, every man received 
 his allowance of flour, and there was exactly four pints to each. Meat 
 there was none. Upon this small supply we were obliged to push as we 
 valued our lives, and did not know but we should have a powerful army to 
 encounter. Then I first experienced the real advantage of health, being 
 able to keep pace with the foremost, and reached the inhabitants, though 
 in a very weak, half starved condition. Some dogs that had followed us 
 were killed and eat, even the intestines, skin, etc. Many eat their shoes, 1 
 shot pouches, etc., and some never reached the settlements ; I believe no ' 
 men ever went through more or greater hardships. Col. Enos, who com- . 
 manded the fourth or last division of our little army, called a council o* 
 war at his entrance into the Dead river, and he with his whole party, cor- , 
 sisting of three companies, returned back; this first caused our distress, a^ 
 chief of our provision was in the rear under his care. From the last Eng- 
 lish inhabitants in the province of Maine, to the Canadian settlements, we 
 were thirty-two days m.nrching, and never saw any human being but those 
 of our party, neither do I think it was ever passed, except by Indians and 
 wild beasts. We were at least one month too late for this northern cli- 
 mate, as we suffered much from rains, cold, snow, etc., but our joy upon 
 our arrival among the Canadians is inexpressible, and their kindness and 
 hospitality soon made amends for all our fatigue, though I am sensible it 
 will never be forgotten. From the first inhabitants up Chaudiere river, to 
 Quebec, is called ninety miles. We were not permitted to tarry at any 
 place, but marched on as fast as our strength would permit to Point Levi, 
 
184 Appendix. 
 
 which is on the river St. Lawrence directly opposite to Ouebec, where we 
 found a number of armed vessels, from whom we weie irequenlly compli- 
 mented with salutes of their cannon. 
 
 '" The country we last passed through was very thick settled, though 
 every where you see marks of oppression. The people are poor and illiterate 
 and appear to have no other end in view than keeping their souls and bodies 
 together, and preparing for the next world, being e.vceedingly devout. We 
 tarried at Point Levi near a week, during which time we were busy in pre- 
 paring to cross the river, being obliged to purchase birch canoes twenty 
 miles distant and carry them by land, the regulars at Quebec having burnt 
 all near them as soon as they heard of our coming. The men of war lay 
 in such a manner as they supposed would prevent our attempt, but on 
 Monday the 13th inst., every thing was ready for our embarkation, and at 
 nme o'clock in the evening, being very dark, the first division set off, and 
 we passed between the Hunter of fourteen guns and Quebec, and landed 
 safely at Point de Pezo. The boats were immediately sent back and con- 
 tinued passing till near daybreak, while the men on this side marched up 
 the hill, at the same place the immortal Wolfe formerly did, and imme- 
 diately formed. The place we marched up is called Wolfe's Cove, and 
 were you to see. the hill, you would think it morally impossible for any 
 thing mortal to get heavy artillery up it. I forgot to inform you that 
 Wolfe had intrenched himself very strongly at Point Levi, the remains of 
 which are very evident, though defaced and much filled up. Near day- 
 break the guard boat belonging to the man of war was passing from the 
 Hunter to the Lizard, a frigate of twenty-eight guns, at the time some of 
 our boats were crossing, which made us uneasy, and as the guard boat came 
 near the shore we hailed her, and then fired upon her, and could distinctly 
 hear them cry out they were wounded ; they pushed off, and the whole 
 garrison was immediately alarmed. After waiting some little time till all 
 our men were over (except a guard stationed at Point Levi), we marched 
 across the plains of Abraham, and at daybreak took possession of some 
 houses, one mile and an half from Quebec ; after fixing a strong guard we 
 retired, but were alarmed by their seizing one of our sentinels, whom they 
 carried off Our army was immediately marched off towards the walls. 
 They fired some heavy shot at us, but without any execution; and our men 
 as usual at Cambridge, picked up a number of them, gave them three 
 hearty cheers and retired to their quarters. On Tuesday they made an 
 attempt for a second sentinel, but were unsuccessful. Our little army im- 
 mediately turned out, and we took possession of a nunnery in the suburbs 
 within point blank shot, and fixed a strong guard there; they kept up a 
 pretty heavy fire, but fortunately no person received the least injury. We 
 had now in a great measure cut off all communications between the city 
 and country, and I believe they began to feel we were not the most agreea- 
 ble neighbors. On Wednesday we had two alarms and expected they would 
 have turned out and ventured a battle, but it vanished with the roaring of 
 their cannon. On Thursday evening, as a party were crossing St. Charles 
 river (for Quebec stands on a point between St. Lawrence and St. Charles), 
 one of our men, a Pennsylvanian, and a noble soldier was wounded by a 
 cannon ball in the leg, which was cut off a^^soon as possible, but he had lost 
 
Appendix. 185 
 
 so much blood before the doctor could see him that he expired next morning. 
 We buried him on the plains of Abraham. A noble grave for a soldier, 
 and which his past conduct, since he has been in this department, really 
 merited. Little or nothing material passed on Saturday. On Sunday 
 evening, about seven o'clock, every man received orders to parade at Head 
 Quarters at three o'clock in the morning, with his pack on his back. The 
 boats were dispatched across the river and our guard brought from Point 
 Levi. At the appointed hour we assembled and received orders to retreat. 
 We set off, and in our march passed three different armed vessels, and as 
 the road is on the shore we expected at least a broadside, ■ ut they passed 
 us in peace, and upon their arrival at Quebec, we heard the discharge of a 
 number of cannon, from which we concluded Carleton was on board one 
 of them, or that 'twas for joy of our raising the seige. We marched eight 
 leagues that day, and the colonel found it absolutely necessary to halt here, 
 till he could provide the men with shoes or moccasins, many of them being 
 almost barefoot ; it was the first time I ever wore moccasins on a march, 
 and I assure you from the roughness of the road (it being very hard) I could 
 not, in my opinion, if my life had depended upon it, have marched ten miles 
 next day. It has ever been our fortune from first marching from Cambridge, 
 whenever we were much depressed, fatigued, etc., to hear some agreeable news 
 that would immecffately invigorate us, and enable us to proceed with tolera- 
 ble cheerfulness. At this place we heard the agreeable news of Montreal 
 being in our possession, that Governor Carleton made his escape in a birch 
 canoe, and that he was actually in the ship that passed by here yesterday. 
 In short everything once more seems to conspire in our favor. Gen. 
 Montgomery is on his march for Quebec, and we halt here till he comes 
 up, when we shall return to Quebec again, though whether it will be in our 
 possession this winter or not is uncertain. We hear they are driving in all 
 the cattle, etc., which will enable them to stand a long seige. In this 
 part of the world 'tis time for men to think of winter quarters rather than 
 attacking fortified towns; however we are y4mericans and American so/Jiers. 
 I have not an objection to visiting the plains of Abraham once more, and 
 'tis probable shall have good quarters even in Quebec ; at any rate I go with 
 pleasure and sincerely believe every man in our army would rather return 
 and is only sorry that our situation rendered it impossible for us to stay 
 longer before Quebec. Our commander is a gentleman worthy the trust 
 reposed in him ; a man, I believe, of invincible courage ; a man of great 
 prudence ; ever serene ; he defies the greatest danger to affect him, or diffi- 
 culties to alter his temper; in fine you will ever see him the intrepid hero, 
 and the unruffled Christian. 
 
 " Thus have I endeavored to give you a short sketch of our past and 
 present situation; I could wish my abilities could have placed it in a more 
 correct light before you ; in my present abode it was entirely out of my 
 power, and it was not a little time before I could procure even thus much 
 paper, which is the leaf of a book, a gentleman had for his journal. In 
 better times expect better fare. Quebec, as I mentioned, stands upon a 
 point, between St. Lawrence and St. Charles rivers, the latter not navigable, 
 except for ferry boats, it consists of the upper and lower town, the latter is 
 immediately on the point or water's edge, and consists of a large number of 
 
1 86 Appendix. 
 
 houses built thick ; the upper town is upon the hill, which is prodigiously 
 high; the town is surrounded on the country part by a wail, from twenty- 
 five to thirty feet high; there are, I think, three gates (though I am not 
 certain), St. John's, Port Lewis, and St. Roque's. On each side the river 
 St. Lawrence, from Quebec to Point aux Tremble (our present camp), the 
 hills, or rather banks, are very high, not much less in general than fifty 
 felt; many places close upon the river ; in some places there is a rich piece. 
 of level meadow, perhaps the distance of half a mile from the bank to the 
 river. The whole from here to 2'^^^'^^, is thickly inhabited, which I am 
 informed is the case to Montreal. The houses are many of them genteel, 
 rather than otherwise, though in general the inhabitants live very low, and 
 in their dress, manners, stoves, etc., exactly resemble our Germans. Since 
 I left Newbury Port till our march last Sunday, I do not recollect that I 
 have seen an oak tree; I venture to say 1 have not. In the province of 
 Maine, such part as we came through and Canada, has abounded chiefly 
 with evergreens, such as fir, hemlock, spruce, cedar, pine, birch, maple, etc.; 
 last Sunday I was happy in seeing a few oaks and an apple orchard. The 
 inhabitants few or none speak English. How long we may stay here is 
 uncertain — till-our reinforcement arrives, 'tis probable, unless they should 
 venture to attack us from Q^sti^'^- ^^ '' ^^ "^ ^'^^ ^ ^'^ content, and can 
 remove from place to place with as much resignation as almost any one, 
 having been taught by this campaign to consider no place as my home for 
 more than an hour or a day." 
 
 Extract of a letter from a •volunteer ivith Col. Arnold to his friend in this 
 city, dated Point aux Tremble, 2i miles from Quebec, No'vember t.!, ifj^. 
 " We arrived before Quebec the 15th inst., after a severe march of about 
 600 miles ; when we left Cambridge we were eleven hundred strong ; about 
 halfway Colonel Enos got frightened, and with three companies, and the 
 sick, which together was about one-half of our number, and the greatest 
 part of the provision, f;/rne(/ ^ac/^ .' May shame and guilt go with him, 
 and wherever he seeks a shelter may the hand of justice shut the door against 
 him; perhaps I have said too much, but a man that has suffered by him, 
 can hardly refrain speaking. We were about two months on our march, 
 thirty-two days of which we did not see a house, and at short allowance, 
 six days of which we were at half a pound of pork and half a pound of 
 flour per man a day, after which for four days we had only half a pound of 
 flour per day, our pork being gone; two days of which we lost ourselves, 
 marched forty miles, and were but ten miles on our way; our whole stores 
 was then divided, and it was about four pints of flour per man ; a small 
 allowance for men near one hundred miles from any habitation, or prospect 
 of a supply. After having traveled fifty or sixty miles on this scanty allow- 
 ance we came to a river, which we were told was only eight miles from 
 the inhabited parts, here I sat down, baked and eat my last morsel of bread; 
 but, think what was my distress, when I found, after crossing the river, 
 that I had thirty miles to travel before I could expect the least mouthful ; 
 however my dread was soon removed by the return of Col. Arnold, who, 
 with a small party had made a forced march, and returned to us with some 
 cattle he had purchased of the inhabitants ; on these we made a voracious 
 meal, and renewed our march with new courage to Point Levi — from 
 
Appendix. 187 
 
 thence we were transported in birch canoes to the plains of Abraham, and 
 from thence retreated to this place to wait for Gen. Montgomery, who, we 
 are told, by express this day, will be with us soon." 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Point aux Tremble, dated Dec. I, 1775. 
 "An incessant hurry of business since my arrival in Canada, has deprived 
 me of the pleasure of writing before. This serves to give you a short sketch 
 of our tour, the fatigue and hazard of which is beyond description ; a future 
 day may possibly present you with the particulars. The 15th Sept. left 
 Cambridge, same night arrived at Newburyport 1 8th embarked and sailed; 
 19th thick weather and a gale of wind, which divided the fleet ; 20th ar- 
 rived in Kennebec river, 2.1st reached Fort Western ; 25th to 29th one 
 division marched off each day, with forty-five days provisions; from 29th 
 to the 8th Oct. the whole d*>tachment were daily up to their waists in 
 water, hauling up the batteaux against the rapid stream, to Norridgewock, 
 fifty miles from Fort Western; from the 9th to the i6th not a minute 
 was lost in gaining the Dead river about fifty miles ; from i 6th to 27th we 
 ascended to Lake Me^antic or Chaudiere pond, distance eighty-three milis ; 
 28th Col. Arnold embarked with seventeen men in five b:teaux, being 
 resolved to proceed on to the French inhabitants, and send back provisions 
 to the detacr.ment, who are near out, and must inevitably suffer without a 
 supply; at ten we passed over the lake thirteen miles long and entered the 
 Chaudiere river, which we descended about ten m'les in two hours, amazingly 
 rocky, rapid and dangerous, when we had the misfortune of oversetting and 
 staving three bateaux and lost all their baggage, provisions, etc., and with 
 difficulty saved the men This disaster, though unfortunate at first view 
 we must think a very happy circumstance to the whole, and kind interposition 
 of providence, for had we proceeded half a mile further, we must have gone 
 over a prodigious fall which we were not apprised of, and all inevitably 
 perished ; here we divided the little provisions left, and Col. Arnold pro- 
 ceeded on with two bateaux and five men with all possible expedition, and 
 on the 30th at night, he arrived at the first inhabitants, upwards of eighty 
 miles from the lake, where he was kindly received, and the next morning 
 early sent off a supply of fresh provisions to the rear detachment by the 
 Canadians and savages, about forty of the latter having joined us ; by the 
 8th the whole arrived except two or three left behind sick ; the loth we 
 reached Point Levi, seventy-five miles from Sartigan (the first inhabitants), 
 waited until the i 3th for the rear to come up and employed the carpenters 
 in making ladders and collecting canoes, those on Point Levi being all 
 destroyed to prevent our crossing ; having collected about thirty we em- 
 barked at nine p. m. and at four a. m. carried over at several times five 
 hundred men without being discovered. Thus in about eight weeks we 
 completed a march of near six hundred miles not to be paralleled in history ; 
 the men having with the greatest fortitude; and perseverance hauled their 
 bateaux up rapid streams, being obliged to wade almost the whole way, near 
 one hundred and eighty miles, carried them on their shoulders near forty miles 
 over hills, swamps and bogs almost impenetrable, and to their knees in mire, 
 being often obliged to cross three or four times with their baggage. Short 
 of provisions, part of the detachment disheartened and gone back; famine 
 
I 8 8 Appendix. 
 
 staring us in the face and an enemy's country, and uncertainty ahead ; not- 
 withstanding all these obstacles the otficers end men inspired and tired with 
 the love of liberty and their country, pushed on with a fortitude superior 
 to every obstacle. Most of them had not one day's provision for a week. 
 Thus I have given you a short, but imperfect sketch of our march. The 
 night we crossed the St. Lawrence, found it impossible to get our ladders over, 
 and the enemy being apprised of our coming we found it impracticable to 
 attack them without too great a risk ; we therefore invested the town and 
 cutofftheir communication with the country. We continued in this situation 
 until the 20th, having often attempted to draw out the garrison in vain ; 
 on a strict scrutiny into our ammunition found many of our cartridges (which 
 to appearance were good) unserviceable, and not ten rounds apiece for the 
 men who were almost naked, barefooted and much fatigued, and as the 
 garrison was daily increasing and near double our number, we thought it 
 prudent to retire to this place and wait the arrival of General Montgomery 
 with artillery, clothing, etc., who to our great joy this morning joined us. 
 We propose immediately investintr the town, and make no doubt in a few 
 days to bring Carleton to terms." 
 
 Camp before !^^ebec, near the General Hospital, Dec. 6. 
 
 "I wrote you the 2ist ult. which I make no doubt you have received. 
 I then gave you some particulars of our march, proceedings, etc., since 
 which Gen. Montgomery has joined us with artillery, and about 3000 
 men ; and yesterday we arrived here from Point aux Tremble, and are 
 making preparation to attack the enemy, who are in close garrison, but 
 cannot hold out long, as from the best account they are very much divided 
 amongst themselves, and a prodigious panic has seized them all. Carleton, 
 we are told, is determined to hold out to the very last, as his only hope, for 
 he can expect nothing but punishment from the ministry, whom he has 
 most egregiously deceived, in regard to the inhabitants of this country. All 
 his friends, or rather his courtiers, say, he could not have taken more ef- 
 fectual measures than he has, to ruin the ccuntry. 
 
 " The 22d ult. he issued a most extraordinary proclamation, strictly order- 
 ing all who refuse to take up arms and defend the garrison, to depart the 
 town and district within four days, with their wives and children, under 
 pain of being treated as rebels or spies. In consequence of which a great 
 number of the prin'cipal inhabitants came out with their families, but were 
 obliged to leave all their property behind, except some wearing apparel, and 
 a little household furniture, etc. I inclose you a copy of the proclamation. 
 Among the corps who came with Gen. Montgomery, is your worthy friend 
 Captain Lamb, whom I had the pleasure of seeing a few days ago at Point 
 aux Tremble. Our men are in high spirits, being now well clothed with 
 the regimentals destined for the 7th and 26th regiments, who were taken 
 prisoners at St. John's. This is a circumstance which, I believe, the 
 like never before happened to British troops, as two regiments of them to 
 be made prisoners at one time. Providence smiles on us in a most remark- 
 able manner. The Canadians say, ' Surely God is with his people, or they 
 could never have done what they have done.' They are all astonished at 
 our march through the wilderness which they say was impossible, and 
 
Appendix. 189 
 
 would not believe our coming, until they had ocular demonstration ot it. 
 We are at a great loss for intelligence from the army at Cambridge and 
 other quarters, having had no certain accounts of their movements, nor 
 the least syllable of nesvs since we left Newbury. I am astonished a 
 regular communication has not been opened between Montreal and the 
 colonies, hope you will pay a little attention publicly to it, more especially 
 as there are some scoundrels who, with impunity, open the letters directed 
 to the officers in our army, and I suppose they continue the like infamous 
 practice with the letters which are sent to our friends and acquaintance. 
 The general is now absent sending ofi an express, by whom I send this. I 
 hope the next time I write you, it will be from guebec, for if the insulting 
 foe does not surrender shortly, I believe it is the general's intention to carry 
 the town by storm." 
 
 ROLL OF CAPT. MATTHEW SMITH'S COMPANY. 
 
 On leaving Paxtang this company mustered eighty-seven (^7) men. Of 
 this number notwithstanding our researches the names of only fifty-one (51 ) 
 can be ascertained with certainty. No papers of Smith, Steel, Simpson or 
 Cross, are known to exist. Of Capt. Hendricks's company raised near the 
 same locality, on the west side of the Susquehanna, scarcely a dozen names 
 have been rescued from oblivion. Both companies were of the flower of 
 the country, brave, ardent and patriotic — and nowise daunted by the 
 sufferings of the Arnold campaign — of those who returned nearly all 
 returned to the service : 
 
 C.'iPTAIN. 
 
 Matthew Smith, Paxtang. 
 
 1ST Lieutenant. 
 Archibald Steel, Donegal. 
 
 2D Lieutenant. 
 Michael Simpson, Paxtang, commanded in the assault. 
 
 3D Lieutenant. 
 
 William Cross, Hanover 
 
 Sergeants. 
 
 Boyd, Thomas, Derrj-, subsequently Capt. -Lieut, ist Pa. 
 
 Cunningham, Robert, Londonderry, d. at Lancaster, of disease contracted 
 in prison, soon after. 
 
 Dixon, Robert, killed in front of Quebec, Nov. 17, 1775. Belonged to 
 West Hanover. 
 
 Privates. 
 
 Ayres, John, Upper Paxtang. 
 
 Binnagle, Curtis, Londonderry. 
 
 Bollinger, Emanuel, Paxtang. 
 
 Black, James, Hanover. 
 
 Black, John, Upper Paxtang. 
 
1 90 • Appendix. 
 
 Cavenaugh, Edward, resided in York county, subsequently, " Honest 
 Ned " of Judge Henry. 
 
 Carbach, Peter, Paxtang. After return enlisted in Capt. John Paul 
 Schott's Co., March 12, 1777, Discharged at Lancaster, in 1783. Re- 
 sided in Dearborn Co., Ind., in 1830. 
 
 Connor, Timothy, Bethel. 
 
 Crouch, James, Paxtang ; afterwards a colonel. 
 
 Cochran, Samuel, Paxtang; afterwards captain of the militia, 1781. 
 
 Crow, Henry, died in Derry. 
 
 Dougherty, James, Londonderry, captured at Quebec and put in irons 
 eight weeks. Subsequently enlisted 12th Pa. 
 
 Dixon, Richard, Dixon's Ford. 
 
 Dean, Samuel, served one year, then appointed Lieut, in Col. Harts' 
 regiment. Flying camp. Subsequently ist Lieut, nth Pa. 
 
 Egle, Adam, Lebanon; wagon-master at Cambridge, Col. Thompson's 
 regiment. 
 
 Elder, John, Paxtang. 
 
 Feely, Timothy, Dixon's Ford. 
 
 Griffith, John, Harris's Ferry. 
 
 Harris, David, Harris's Ferry; subsequently Capt. Pa. Line. 
 
 Harris, John, Harris's Ferry ; killed at Quebec. 
 
 Henry, John Joseph, Lancaster. 
 
 Kennedy, John, Hanover. 
 
 Marshall, Laurence, Hanover. 
 
 M'Granagan, Charles, Londonderry. 
 
 Merchant, George, Donegal. 
 
 M'Enally, Henry, Londonderry. 
 
 M'Konkey, John, Hanover. 
 
 Mellen, Atchison, Paxtang; resided in Lycoming county in 18 1 3. 
 
 Nelson [Nilson], Alexander, Derry; killed in front of Quebec, Jan. 
 I, 1776. 
 
 Old, James, Derry. 
 
 Porterfield, Charles, Hanover. 
 
 Ryan, John, Derry. 
 
 Simpson, 'William, Paxtang; wounded August 27, 1775; brother of 
 Michael Simpson. 
 
 Sparrow, William, Derry. 
 
 Shaeffer, John (drummer) ; resided in Lancaster in 1809. 
 
 Smith, Samuel, Paxtang. 
 
 Taylor, Henry, Paxtang; captured Dec. 31, 1773, returned Nov. 10, 1776. 
 
 Todd [Tidd] John, Hanover. 
 
 Teeder, Michael, Hanover; subsequently enlisted 5th Pa. 
 
 Warner, James ; died in the wilderness near Chaudiere lake. — Henry, 
 
 P- '98- 
 
 Waun, Michael, Derry ; died at the crossing of the Chaudiere. 
 
 Weaver, Martin, Upper Paxtang. 
 
 Weirick, Valentine, Hanover; resided in Dauphin Co., 18 13. 
 
 Wheeler, [uncertain] from Paxtang. — Letter from Dr. IV. H. 
 
 Egle. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abenakis, 74. 
 
 Abraham, plains of, 82, 184, 187. 
 
 Acorns as food, 21. 
 
 Advance party, I 3. 
 
 Age of Reason, 120. 
 
 Agry's point, I 3. 
 
 Alc'ibiades fought in the ranks, 119. 
 
 Allen, Ethan, voyage to England, 
 120. 
 
 American Archives, 2. 
 
 Ammeguntick pond, 2. 
 
 Ammunition bad and scanty, 188 ; 
 economy of, 51. 
 
 Am well, historian, 86. 
 
 Anderson, John F., letter from, 49. 
 
 Appendix, 183. 
 
 Arms of the forces, 11 
 
 Army, pioneers return to, 46 ; re- 
 treat of, 165. 
 
 Arnold characterized, 12; heads 
 forlorn hope, 107 5 wounded, 
 109 ; his vanity before Quebec, 
 85, 86 ; letter from, 133 ; re- 
 turn of, 186; to penetrate into 
 Canada, i ; instructions to, 2. 
 
 Arnold's falls, 35. 
 
 Arrow and spear heads, place of 
 manufacture, 18. 
 
 Aston, Joseph, 117; major, 146, 
 
 147, 149- 
 Atlee, Col. Samuel, I2Z 
 Ayres, capt., pioneer, 49. 
 Ayres, John, 189. 
 
 Baily, John, col., 63. 
 
 Baldwin, Loammi, col., 63. 
 
 Balsam fir, 25, 26. 
 
 Bateaux lost, 187; relics of found, 
 
 49; repaired, 19 j taken, 13; 
 
 account of, i 3. 
 Bears not seen, 45. 
 
 Beaver tails for food, 21. 
 
 Biddle, Owen, 182. 
 
 Bigelow, major, 68, 60. 
 
 Bingham purchase, 22. 
 
 Binnagle, Curtis, 189. 
 
 Black, James, 189; John, 189. 
 
 Blair, John, escape of, 177. 
 
 Bleary, its consistence defined, 65 
 
 Block house, i 30. 
 
 Boats lost in the Chaudiere, 68 ; re- 
 moved from Point Levi, 81. 
 
 •^og meadows, 24, 25. 
 
 Bollinger, Emanuel, 189. 
 
 Bombazee falls, 85. 
 
 Bonnet rouge, 103. 
 
 Boyd, Thomas. 14, 24, 37, 40, 45 
 46, 128, 147, 164, 175, 189; 
 his fate, 1 16, 1 17. 
 
 Braddocke's expedition, iv. 
 
 Brewer, J. col., 60. 
 
 Bridge, col., 60. 
 
 Bristol, 181. 
 
 Brown, It. col., 60. 
 
 Buckmaster, lieur., testimony of, 61. 
 
 Bunker's hill, 47. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, soldier in the army, 72. 
 
 Cadaracgua, or St. Lawrence, 176. 
 Caldwell, lt.gov., his house, 83,86. 
 Cambridge, army encamped at, I ; 
 
 head quarters at, 60 ; march to 
 
 commence from, 3, 6 ; march 
 
 from, 185, 186, 187. 
 Campbell, col., retreat of, no, 
 
 128, 131. 
 Campbell, Thos., 117, I18. 
 Canada winter, 102; balsam, 26; 
 
 the first house reached, 72. 
 Canadian houses, 76; fare, 78; 
 
 hospitality, 78 ; settlements, 
 
 183. 
 
igi 
 
 Index. 
 
 Canadians encourage invasion, i ; 
 to be protected from insult and 
 injury, 2 ; their real sentiments 
 to be discovered, 3. 
 
 Canoe snagged, 39 ; how repaired, 
 40. 
 
 Canoes, as constructed by the 
 Indians, 27, 28 ; bark, purchas- 
 ed, 184, 187; birch bark, their 
 burden and how managed, 15 j 
 constructed, 187. 
 
 Cape Diamond, 170, 172 ; described, 
 129. 
 
 Carbach, Peter, 190. 
 
 Carleton, an Irishman, 85; arrival 
 at Quebec, 91, 185 ; his orders, 
 188; releases Natanis, 75; 
 generosity of, 134, 135; mild- 
 ness of his reign, 146 5 his ac- 
 count of loss, 1 1 3 ; his humanity, 
 114, 115; to be diverted from 
 St. Johns, I. 
 
 Cartridges, commerce in, 152. 
 
 Carratunk falls, 35. 
 
 Carrying place, first, 16 j others, I. 
 
 Cataract in the Chuudiere, 69. 
 Cattle sent to the rescue, 72. 
 Cavanaugh, Edward, 55, 136, 137, 
 
 138, 190. 
 Cedar-root cordage, 40 ; swamp. 
 
 Centennial relic, 35, 36. 
 Chamberlaine, disobeys orders, 50. 
 Chambers, col. Stephen, viii, xiii. 
 Chatham's son to be treated with 
 
 respect, 4. 
 Chaudiere, definition of, 67 ; lake, 
 
 described, 36; head of, 183, 
 187 ; river, distance of, 183 ; 
 
 navigation dangerous, 58 ; head 
 
 of, 2; arrival at, 35, 36; 
 
 source discovered, 7. 
 Cheeseman, killed, 131, 134; 
 
 coffin of, 170. 
 Cheshire cheese, 175. 
 Clap, Ebeneser, It. col., 63. 
 Clark, Joel, It. col., 63. 
 Cleveland, It. col., 60. 
 
 Clifton, James, 14; angler, 23; 
 
 deserted, 48. 
 Clothing furnished by Montgomery, 
 
 102 J received, 188. 
 Coats furnished by Montgomery, 
 
 141. 
 Cochran, Samuel, 190. 
 Colborn's ship yard, 13. 
 Colburn, Andrew, major, 63. 
 Conibas Indians, 19. 
 Connecticut volunteers, 11. 
 Connor, Timothy, 136, 190. 
 Cooper, lieut., killed, 112. 
 Coppermine river, 15. 
 Cornplanter, the Seneca, 169. 
 Costume of the companies, 11. 
 Craig, Mr., 102. 
 Crawford, col., 117. 
 Cromie, lieut. gov., 95 ; his country 
 
 residence, 96 ; the house rifled, 
 
 97; his farm house sacked, 98. 
 Crone, Henry, 141, 142. 
 Cross, It. William, 133, 189. 
 Crouch, James, 11, 19c. 
 Crow, Henry, 190. 
 Cunningham, Robert, 14, 35, 37, 
 
 38, 47, "7, 189, 128, 147. 
 Cushnoc, 16. 
 
 Dauphin jail, 139, 143, 144; its 
 
 imbecility, 145, 148. 
 Dead-house, 135, 136. 
 Dead river, 183, 1875 its course, 
 
 22 J encampment on, 24; head 
 
 of, 33; army reaches, 49 j name 
 
 misapplied, 29 ; return to 
 
 44. 
 Dean, Samuel, 190. 
 Dearborn, capt,, 675 gen., 11. 
 Death from repletion, 74. 
 Deer, habits of, 16. 
 Demosthenes fought in the ranks, 
 
 119. 
 Derry, soldiers from, II 
 DeVerney, Hugh, iii. 
 Dinner, mode of preparing, 92 ; 
 
 mode of serving, 92. 
 Disastrous pass, 66. 
 Discipline to be enforced, 3. 
 
Index. 
 
 ^n 
 
 Dixon, amiable, Robert, 53, 55, 
 115, 116 j wounded, 88 died, 
 89 ; first oblation on the altar 
 of liberty in Quebec, 90 ; 
 killed, 189. 
 
 Dixon, Richard, 11, 190. 
 
 Doe Run, iii. 
 
 Dog broth, 71. 
 
 Dogs eaten, 183. 
 
 Dougherty, James, 52, 190. 
 
 Drake's Biog. Dictionary, 47. 
 
 Duck shot, 37 ; divided, 38. 
 
 Durkee, major, 59. 
 
 Egle, Adam, 190; Dr. W. H., 
 
 190. 
 Elder, John, 190; Rev. Mr., 134. 
 Elizabethtown point, 180. 
 Elk, 16. 
 
 Emigrant corps, 136. 
 Endesly, capt., 115. 
 Enos, second in command, 10 ; 
 
 his desertion known, 7, 59, 
 
 132, 183, 186; trial of, 
 
 59 5 proceedings of court 
 
 martial, 60; acquitted, 61; 
 
 his address to the public, 59 ; 
 
 exults over Dr. Smith, 63. 
 Enlistments declined, 106. 
 Escape, planned by prisoners, 147, 
 
 153 ; frustrated, 156. 
 Evergreens, abundance of 186. 
 Exchange of prisoners announced, 
 
 169. 
 Expedition marched, 12 j took 
 
 different routes, note 12 ; object 
 
 and force of, 10, 13. 
 
 Famine, death from, 66. 
 Fatigue of the march, 187. 
 Febiger, Christian, 12, 181; sketch 
 of, 47 ; reconnoiters the city, 
 
 85-. . 
 Feely, Timothy, 190. 
 Fighting cock tavern, 178. 
 Fir branches, bed on, 62. 
 First inhabitants reached, 187. 
 Fisdle, lieut., wounded, 112. 
 Flagstaff village, 35. 
 
 17 
 
 Flint rock wrought by Indians, 18. 
 
 Force, Peter, 2. 
 
 Forest, change of growth, 49. 
 
 Fort Halifax, arrival at, 16. 
 
 Fort Western, 15, 187; arrival at. 
 
 Fortress, attack on ordered, 104. 
 
 Fowls, how managed, 93. 
 
 Fox, migrations of, 17. 
 
 Franklin, his discovery of electricity, 
 
 144. 
 French spy, 87, 89. 
 Freshet impedes the march, 52. 
 Frost, effect of on the dead, 136. 
 Frozen limbs, effect of, 104. 
 
 Game, scarcity of, 42. 
 
 Gardiner, Hanson's history of, 13. 
 
 Garrison alarmed, 184. 
 
 Gaspy point, 176. 
 
 Gelelemend, v. 
 
 Getchel, 40, 41, 45; Jeremiah, 
 
 guide, 15, 18 j at fault, 22; 
 
 ingenious construction of, 26. 
 Gibson, Dr. Thos., captured, 112^ 
 
 escape of, 177 ; died 117. 
 Gibson, gen., at Logstown, 21. 
 Gibson, George, vi. 
 Gibson, John vi. 
 Gibson, John Bannister, vi. 
 Gluttony, death from, 65. 
 Gordon, historian, 86. 
 Governor's island, 176. 
 Greaton, col., 60. 
 Greene, brig, gen., 59 ; characterized, 
 
 12. 
 Greene's division, provisioned, 60, 
 
 61. 
 Green's brigade, 6, 10. 
 Grier, Mrs., her endurance, 66, 67. 
 Griffith, John, 190. 
 Guard house, 99. 
 Gun barrel found, 35. 
 
 Hamilton, /\. B., 11. 
 Hamilton, James, iv. 
 Hand, general, 14. 
 Han-jost, 117. 
 Harp and Crown, tavern, 182. 
 
194 
 
 Index. 
 
 Harris, Biog. Hist. Lancaster, 14. 
 
 Harris, David, 190. 
 
 Harris, John, 11, 190. 
 
 Harrisburgh, founder of, 11. 
 
 Harrison, capt., 16. 
 
 Harville, Sheppard, 25. 
 
 Hayden, Josiah, major, 63. 
 
 Hearne's Journey, 15. 
 
 Heath, lieut., 57. 
 
 Heath, brig. gen. Wm., 59, 63. 
 
 Height of land, 2 J discovered, 35; 
 arrival at, 58. 
 
 Hendricks, capt. Wm., vii, 11 ; 
 characterized, 12; superseded 
 by Morgan, 50, 57 ; at the 
 attack, no, iii; killed, iii, 
 135; sketch of, III; grave 
 of, 170; his company, 189. 
 
 Henry, Anne, v. 
 
 Henry, Anne Mary, x. 
 
 Henry, John, vi. 
 
 Henry, John Joseph, 11, 190; 
 memoir of, iii, xi; his nar- 
 rative, 6, 7, 8, 9 ; pioneer, 
 190; as first lieut., 147. 
 
 Henry, Benj. West, x. 
 
 Henry, William, iii, iv, xi. 
 
 Hide, lieut,, testimony of 61. 
 
 Hitchcock, Daniel, col., 63. 
 
 Home, John, guide, 15. 
 
 Hospital, sick in, 152. 
 
 Howe, general, 177. 
 
 Hubbard, capt., wounded, 112. 
 
 Hubley, John, xiii. 
 
 Huguenots, iii. 
 
 Humphreys, lieut., 58 ; at the 
 attack, no, in; killed, 112, 
 135 J grave of, 170. 
 
 Hunter, sloop of war, 89 ; vessel, 
 184. 
 
 Hunter's falls, 129. 
 
 Imprisonment, pains of, 166. 
 
 Indian bread, 62 ; file, 64; imple- 
 ments of birch, 27. 
 
 Indians encourage invasion, I j first 
 employed by Am. army, 75. 
 
 Inhabitants devout, 284 ; fly from 
 war, 87. 
 
 Invaders clad in sheet iron, 11. 
 Invasion, letters respecting, 183. 
 Irons applied to prisoners, 159; 
 
 struck oflT, 166. 
 Isle of Orleans, 133. 
 
 Jail, its structure, etc., 148. 
 Jenner, Dr., his discovery, 144. 
 Jerking flesh, how performed, 44. 
 Johnson, major, 60. 
 Journals of the expedition, 6. 
 
 Kennebec river, i, 3, 187 ; navigable 
 for sloops, etc., I ; arrival at, 
 13; carry on, 49. 
 
 Kennedy, John, 190. 
 
 Killed at Quebec, number of, 113. 
 
 Killikin'ck in tobacco, 169. 
 
 King's store to be secured, 4. 
 
 Koquethaquehton, v. 
 
 Ladders constructed, 187, 188. 
 
 Lake Megantic, 187. 
 
 Lamb, captain, 100 ; arrival of, 188; 
 
 wounded, 112. 
 Lamb's artillerists, 146. 
 Lancaster, Penn., iii; volunteers, II. 
 Law reports, viii. 
 Laws, captain, 112. 
 Leather as food, 72. 
 Lee, Charles, maj. gen., pres. court 
 
 martial, 59. 
 Livingston's regiment, 103. 
 Lizzard frigate, 184. 
 Lobscouse, 140, 143. 
 Log driving, 35. 
 Logan, Mengwe chief, vi. 
 Logstown, vi, 21. 
 Long Island, battle of, 176. 
 Losses by the war, 143. 
 Lutz, Stephen, 181. 
 
 Maclean, col., 85, 136. 
 Maibom, major, 165. 
 Maine wilderness, I ; last inhabit- 
 ants, 183. 
 Map of bark, 33. 
 Marshall, Lawrence, 190. 
 Marsh, It col., 60. 
 
Index, 
 
 195 
 
 Marshall's Diary, vii. 
 
 Martin, Mr., his escape, 149, 151. 
 
 Massachusetts, Hist. Soc. collections, 
 
 6 ; volunteers, 1 1, 
 Maybin, doctor, 161, 166. 
 M'Cleland, 65 ; account ot", 69 ; 
 
 died, 75. 
 McClure, Robert, 11. 
 McCobb, capt., testimony of, 60. 
 McCoy. Wm., to act as colonel, 
 
 142, 143, 147, 149. 
 M'Dougal, col., 119, 122. 
 M'Enally, Henry, 53, 190. 
 McGranagan, Charles, 190. 
 M'Kenzie, capt. 17SJ captured, 
 
 80,81. 
 McKonkey, John, 15, 19, 23, 48, 
 
 49. 190- 
 McPherson, killed, 131, 134; 
 
 coffin of, 170. 
 Mease, clothier general, 122. 
 Meigs, major, iz\ his narrative, 6, 
 
 Mellen, Atchison, 190. 
 
 Melvin, his narrative, 6. 
 
 Mengwe chief, vi. 
 
 Merchant, George, 14, 42, 84, 
 
 190; sent to England, 120. 
 Merchants, generous gift to prisoners, 
 
 128. 
 Midshipman captured, 79. 
 Moccasins provided, 185; failure of, 
 
 68} as food, 725 seal-skin, 
 
 94- 
 
 Montgomery expected, 185, 187, 
 1885 arrived, 94; plan of at- 
 tack, 106; killed, no; place 
 of his death, 120, 134; loss of, 
 8 J funeral of, 134; coffin of, 
 170. 
 
 Montreal taken, 185. 
 
 Moose deer, appearance of, 16 : 
 horns found, 20 ; favorite food 
 of, 20 ; prefer red willow, 169 ; 
 shot, 42. 
 
 Moravians, iv, v. 
 
 Morgan, Daniel, 10, 182; anecdote 
 of, 50; his discipline, 51, 58 ; 
 supersedes Hendricks, 57 ; 
 
 Morgan at the attack, 110, iiij 
 characterized, 12 ; described, 
 48 ; his riflemen, 49 : anecdote 
 of,50 ; his discipline,5 1 ; super- 
 sedes Hendricks, 57. 
 
 Morgan's force thinned, 143. 
 
 Moss bog, 46; plateaus of, 24, 25. 
 
 Mount Bigelow, 35, 58. 
 
 Murray, major, 157; his journal of 
 the route to Quebec, 142. 
 
 Narratives of the expedition, 6, 7. 
 
 Natanis, 74, 169; wounded, 75; 
 
 captured, 112; his cabin, 20, 
 
 31. 32- 
 Natural history, systems of, 17. 
 Nelson (Nilson) Alexander, 190; 
 
 killed, I 34. 
 Newburyport, 186, 187; inquiries 
 
 to be made at, 3 ; expedition 
 
 arrived at, i 3. 
 New England Hist, and Gen. Regis- 
 ter, 6. 
 New Hampshire, volunteers from 11. 
 New Years gift, 128. 
 New York, arrival of prisoners at, 
 
 176 ; fire in, 178 
 Nichols, lieut., 56, 181 ; at the 
 
 attack. III; captured, 112 
 
 115. 
 Nixon, col., 59, 63. 
 Norridgewock, i, 187 ; arrival at, 
 
 18, 19, 21. 
 North Auson, Maine, 34. 
 North's History of Augusta, 16, 22. 
 North, James W., letter from, 49, 
 
 58. 
 
 Oaks not seen, 186. 
 Octorara meeting house, iii. 
 Ogden, a Jersey cadet, 84, 109. 
 Olds, James, 53, 190. 
 Oracle of Reason, 120. 
 Orleans, isle of, 133. 
 Oswego falls, 53. 
 
 Payne, Thomas, 122. 
 Palace gate, loi, 102. 
 Panic, effects of, 10 1. 
 
196 
 
 Index. 
 
 Parker, Michael, murdered, 1 17. 
 Parole of prisoners, 170. 
 Parsons, Samuel H , col., 63. 
 Port Lewis, 186. 
 Paxtang, 105, 189; massacre, v. 
 Paxton volunteers, 11. 
 Peasantry, comfortably housed, 95. 
 Penn, Juliana, vii. 
 Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. Bulletin, 
 6 ; immigrants to, iv ; Journal 
 and Weekly Advertiser, 183. 
 Pioneers return to the army, 46. 
 Plato, song of, 56. 
 Plunder prohibited, 3. 
 Point aux Tremble, 90. 183, 186, 
 
 187, 188. 
 Point de Pezo, 184. 
 Point Levi, 35, 76, 183, 184, 186, 
 
 187. 
 Poor, major, 60. 
 Porpoises, 176. 
 Porter, Wm. A., ix. 
 Porterfield, Charles, 190; killed, 
 
 116. 
 Powder, economy of, 50. 
 Prentice, Samuel, major, 63. 
 Prentis, captain, 129, 157, 165, 
 169,170; account of loss, 1 1 3. 
 Prisoners, conspiracy among, 147; 
 ironed, 158; embark, 175; 
 to be treated with humanity, 4. 
 Provision exhausted, 36, 183, 186; 
 full value to be paid for, 4 ; 
 how divided, 23 ; scanty, 29, 
 61 ; taken by pioneer force, 15 ; 
 in prison, i 38. 
 
 Quebec, Arnold to capture, i ; 
 distance to, i ; capture of, the 
 object of the expedition, 7 ; 
 attacked, 107 ; described, 129 
 185; houses taken possession 
 of, 184; its defences; 172; 
 quietness of, 82. 
 
 Rale, killed, 19. 
 Rank not to be contended for, 4. 
 Redbank, Greene at, 12. 
 Red willow, 168. 
 
 Reed, James, col., 63; Joseph, col., 
 60, 63. 
 
 Reguliers, monastery, 124. 132. 
 
 Reindeer, 20. 
 
 Relics of the expedition, 34, 35. 
 
 Religious notions to be respected, 4. 
 
 Retreat ordered, 185, 187; time 
 for lost, 112. 
 
 Reynolds, Wm., 56. 
 
 Rhode Island volunteers, ri ; Hist. 
 Soc. Collections, 7. 
 
 Rifle corps, precedence of, 51. 
 
 Riflemen in the expedition, 10; re- 
 turned to Quebec, 94; took up 
 quarters, 99; share of pro- 
 visions, 61. 
 
 Roads, how constructed, 93 ; how 
 opened in winter, 93. 
 
 Roeser, Matthew, iv. 
 
 Route, plan of, i. 
 
 Roxbury, rifle company at, 6. 
 
 Ryan, John, 190. 
 
 Sabatis, 32, 74, 80. 
 
 Sartigan, 187. 
 
 Savages used by the army, 11. 
 
 Scaling ladders deficient, 82. 
 
 SchaefFer, John, 190. 
 
 Schitt, capt. John Paul, 190. 
 
 Schuyler, gen., consulted on the 
 
 propriety of the expedition, i j 
 
 to act in concert with, 4. 
 Scott, capt., testimony of, 61. 
 Screw auger, invention of, xi. 
 Scurvy, xii ; appearance of, 161 ; its 
 
 origin, 162; effects of, 164; 
 
 recurrence of, 182; grass, 163. 
 Sebasticook river, 16. 
 Scnter, his narrative, 6. 
 Sentries picked off, 100. 
 Sergeant, col., 60. 
 ShaefTer, John, drummer, 63. 
 Shepard, Wm., It. col., 63. 
 Sherburne, major, 59. 
 Sherman, Isaac, major, 63. 
 Shirts of linen provided, 167. 
 Shitz, Francis, murder of, ix. 
 Shoemakers among the pioneers, 
 
 147. 
 
Index. 
 
 197 
 
 Shoes eaten, 183. 
 
 Simpson, Michael, 8, 11, 75 ; lieut., 
 189; sketch of, 30; gen., 
 characteristics of, 51. 
 
 Simpson, Wm., 190. 
 
 Singleton, Serjeant, 105. 
 
 Six Nations, 116. 
 
 Skowhegan, 35. 
 
 Skowhig falls, 35. 
 
 Sleighing, 93. 
 
 Slough, lieut., vi. 
 
 Slush, sought for, 143. 
 
 Small pox introduced by women, 
 107 5 inoculation for, 144. 
 
 Smith, Aubrey H., x. 
 
 Smith, Calvin, major, 63. 
 
 Smith, Dr. of Philad., 63. 
 
 Smith, Matthew, vii, 1 1 ; captain, 
 . 75. 189. 
 
 Smitli's company, 11 ; roll of, 
 189. 
 
 Smith, col., sketch of, 105. 
 
 Smith, Samuel, 190. 
 
 Smith, Thomas, x. 
 
 Snow, great depth o/, 137; effects 
 of falling in, 114; utility of to 
 vegetation, 164; shoes, 94. 
 
 Snowed under, 63. 
 
 Socrates fought in the ranks, 
 119. 
 
 Soldiers wounded, 185. 
 
 Sparrow, Wm , 190. 
 
 Spears formed of berths, 146. 
 
 Spoons, manufacture of, 140. 
 
 Spring, parson, 109. 
 
 Sprout, Ebenezer, major, 63. 
 
 Squirrels, 42; habits of, 18. 
 
 St. Charles river, 184. 
 
 St. Foix, parish of, 94. 
 
 St. Francis Indians, 4. 
 
 St. John's gate, 145, 186; gate un- 
 barred, 83. 
 
 St. Johns, island of, 176; prisoners 
 taken at, 188. 
 
 St. Lawrence, its majesty, 91 j pass- 
 age of, 184, 188. 
 
 St. Roque, 171, 173, 174, 186. 
 
 Standish, Miles, 58. 
 
 Stark, John, col,, 59, 63. 
 
 Steele, Archibald, 11, 76; sketch 
 of, 14; lieut., 45, 189; his 
 adventure, 81, 82, pioneer of 
 the advance, 14, 68 ; alter- 
 cation with Morgan, 50 ; at 
 the attack, no, ill; wounded, 
 112; pioneer detachment of, 7. 
 
 Steinbock, habits of, 17. 
 
 Steward, Columbus, on the Arnold 
 trail, 34. 
 
 Stone, Edwin M., 7. 
 
 Stony point, attack on, 47. 
 
 Stove, Canadian, 92. 
 
 Stroud blanket, 134. 
 
 Sullivan, brig, gen., 60, 61, 62; 
 his expedition, 116. 
 
 Sumach, poisonous, 169. 
 
 Swords made of hoop iron, 146. 
 
 Taconick falls, i. 
 
 Tailors among the prisoners, 147. 
 
 Taylor, Henry, 190; John M., 68, 
 76. 
 
 Tea abandoned, 89. 
 
 Teeder, Michael, 190. 
 
 Thayer, his narrative, 6, 7, 13. 
 
 Thompson, gen. Wm., 175. 
 
 Ticonic, how situated, 16. 
 
 Tidd, John, 14, 52 (see Todd). 
 
 Timber region, 25. 
 
 Tobacco introduced, 168 ; its poison- 
 ous effects, 168. 
 
 Todd (Tidd), John, 190. 
 
 Tory, definition of, 16, 18. 
 
 Transports, sailed, 13. 
 
 Trees of the forest, 186. 
 
 Troops, arrival of, 165. 
 
 Trout fishing, 23, 30, 31. 
 
 Tudor, W., judge advocate, 59, 60. 
 
 Tyler, John, It. col., 63. 
 
 Vose, It. col., 60. 
 Virginia, riflemen from, 11. 
 Virginians affect superiority, 57. 
 Volunteers, whence from, in. 
 
 Ware's narrative, 6. 
 Warner, James, 64, 190; perished 
 65. 
 
198 
 
 Index. 
 
 Warner, Mrs. Jemima, 65. 
 Washington, letter to congress, I ; 
 
 instructions to Arnold, 2 ; 
 
 address to the people of Canada, 
 
 5 ; general order, 6. 
 Waun, Michael, 190. 
 Weaver, Martin, 190. 
 Webb, Charles, col., 63. 
 Weirich, Valentine, 190. 
 Wells, Levi, major, 65. 
 Wesson, James, It. col., 63. 
 West Hanover, Pa., 90. 
 Wheeler, Jesse, 14, 37, 43, 45, 82, 
 
 190. 
 White Hall tavern, 178. 
 White's ferry, 35. 
 
 Wilderness, time passed in, 183. 
 Williams, capt., testimony of, 60. 
 Winsor, Justin, 6. 
 Winter, the season of good humor, 
 
 100. 
 Wolf, grey, 43. 
 Wolf's cove, 82, 129, 184; place 
 
 of landing, 184. 
 Women that followed the army, 66. 
 Wood, major, 60. 
 Wounded, number of, 113, 114. 
 Wyllys, Samuel, col., 63. 
 
 York artillerists, 100. 
 Yorktown, Febiger at, 47. 
 
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