Reporting to Mathews that he had returned from Cataraqui, Justus admitted that he was thoroughly weary, but he did not know that he was incubating smallpox.15 When he arrived at the house in Fort St. Johns, where Sarah and the two younger children were waiting for him to take them to the Loyal Blockhouse, Justus was feverish. On December 9, Dr. Smyth informed Mathews that Captain Sherwood was dangerously ill.16
Chapter 17
Personal Crises
The moment Dr. Smyth suspected that Justus had smallpox, he ordered everyone out of the house, an order difficult to comply with in overcrowded St. Johns. Anna Sherwood took her two younger children, Eunice her daughter Rachel, by bateau to the Loyal Blockhouse, where Thomas remained in command of the scouts. Unwilling to go so far afield, Sarah found space in the barracks for herself, Diana and Levius. Dr. Smyth found a servant who was immune to care for Justus.
Sorrowing, Sarah wondered why they had never taken the precaution of having the family inoculated, though Dr. Smyth scoffed at the idea. Inoculation with the scrapings from smallpox victims carried considerable risk. In theory a recipient developed a mild case, but in Smyth's experience, all too often he developed a serious one.
On his bed Justus tossed and turned as the fever mounted. By the third day, the servant had to tie him down to prevent him injuring himself. The red marks developed and gradually they turned to ugly pustules on his skin, inside his mouth and down his throat. Swallowing became difficult. At last his fever began to drop and he was more lucid. The acute pain in his arms, legs and back became less severe though he was far from out of danger. Dr. Smyth came to the door daily to hear the servant's report and give advice. At all costs he did not want the patient bled, a practice popular with quacks attached to the regular regiments. Anemia would only make Justus worse. Then, gradually the pustules dried up and formed scabs and Dr. Smyth was able to report to Major Mathews on December 19 that Captain Sherwood was on the mend.1
Smyth instructed the servant to collect all the scabs and burn them. Until every scab had been found and destroyed, Justus was a menace to other members of the family. Scabs on hands and feet tended to be deeply imbedded, and the doctor ordered the servant to dig out each scab with the tip of a sharp knife. After each treatment Justus lay weak and perspiring, but at length both the servant and the doctor were satisfied, and he was allowed to dress and sit in a chair by the fire. All his bedding was burned, and the servant scrubbed the sick room with strong soap and gave the same scouring to the rest of the house.2
Just before Christmas, Smyth permitted Sarah and the two children to return home, soon to be joined by Anna, Eunice and their children. The three families had more cause for celebration than in previous years; Thomas came from the Loyal Blockhouse, Samuel, Justus' brother, from Verchères, very smart in an officer's uniform. At last he had qualified for a lieutenant's commission and Justus was delighted. Young Samuel stayed in Montreal, for Sarah had asked Dr. Stuart to keep the boy in case anyone else succumbed. By the time she knew the house was safe, it was too late to change the arrangement.
On December 24, 1783, all the provincial troops on duty near Montreal, Sorel and Lake Champlain were disbanded, and Justus, his brother and cousin, became half-pay officers.3 The Loyal Rangers, King's Rangers and the first battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York, together with their families, were to remain where they were quartered, receiving provisions, until the spring when they could be moved up the St. Lawrence to the land the governor had chosen for them.
Three battalions remained on duty that winter — the Royal Highland Emigrants, the second battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York, and Butler's Rangers. All were stationed at upper posts, and the order to disband came too late for Haldimand to relay it to the respective commanding officers. Meanwhile, His Excellency was busy making arrangements to resettle the refugees. He purchased large tracts from the Mississauga Indians, and was in communication with Major Edward Jessup and Sir John Johnson. On January 22, Major Mathews ordered Jessup and Sherwood to come to Quebec City to discuss the governor's plans.4
Edward Jessup was in Montreal completing the returns of the Loyal Rangers, and he wrote asking Justus to go ahead, taking a short memorandum he enclosed.5 The journey was an ordeal. Justus still felt weak from his recent illness and as the sleigh passed down the St. Lawrence through air so cold it seemed to burn him, he ached for the next bed at an inn. When he reached the Château St. Louis, Mathews eyed him with concern, noting the pitted scars still so fresh they shone an angry red on the otherwise pale face. The major escorted him to the officers' quarters in the barracks he had used on other visits, and settled him in bed with a drink of hot rum. Morning would be soon enough for the governor.
During the months since Justus' work at Cataraqui, Haldimand had received his first instructions from the King through Lord North, once again the prime minister, and His Excellency was disturbed over certain provisions. These had reached him in November, though they were dated July 16,1783. Land for loyalists was to be divided into:
distinct seigneuries or Fiefs, to extend from two to four leagues in front. If situated upon a navigable River, otherwise to be run square, or in such shape and in such quantities, as shall be convenient & practicable…the propriety of which Seigneuries or Fiefs shall be and remain in vested in Us, our Heirs and Successors.6
Thus the loyalists were to be tenants of the Crown, and Haldimand had been informed that all tenants would pay a quit rent of one halfpenny per acre after they had been on their lands ten years. This amounted to four shillings and twopence per hundred acres per annum. New Yorkers had been accustomed to a quit rent of two shillings and sixpence per hundred acres, and the King was demanding a substantial increase.7
Here was news that would have shocked Justus Sherwood. His three carefully surveyed American townships were to be swept away; loyalists were doomed to fit into the French system of land tenure. Had he been aware, he might have packed up his family and taken his chances in Vermont. However, Haldimand knew that many loyalists would be upset, and he kept the full import of his orders to himself. All Justus discovered at his first interview at the Château St. Louis was that the townships were to be larger. A few days later, Major Jessup joined him, and he learned of other provisions the British government had made that were to his taste.
Land grants were to be as follows: for every field officer, 1,000 acres (405 hectares); for every captain 700 acres; every subaltern, staff or warrant officer 500. Each enlisted man was to receive 100 acres (40.5 hectares), and in addition each member of a disbanded soldier's family whether officer or private, was entitled to 50 acres. Each civilian head of family was to be allowed 100 acres.8
Sherwood's captaincy entitled him to 700 acres, and another 200 for the four members of his family. Since he did not know of the restrictions the King had imposed, Justus thought he faced two choices — 900 acres (364 hectares) in Canada, or 400 acres (162 hectares) in Vermont, where he was not certain of being kindly received. The upper St. Lawrence country had more appeal because of the large land grants, and the half-pay which he could hardly expect to collect if he returned to the Green Mountains. And land was not the only compensation Haldimand planned for his refugees. They were to receive tools and clothing, and some provisions for the first two years, by which time they would be able to provide for themselves.
At the same time the governor was doing what he could to sidestep the regulations imposed in London. He wanted to give the loyalists their familiar institutions, and lacking the authority, he chose a location for the refugees that was well away from all the existing seigneuries. Those who were adamant could go to Chaleur Bay or remain at Sorel, but Haldimand was laying the foundation for a separate province where, one day, the loyalists might be permitted their rights as British Americans.
The seigneuries or fiefs ordered by the King required adjustments to the surveys. Haldimand decided on townships with ‘nine miles of frontage’ on navigable waterways and ‘twelve miles depth’
and he avoided using the name seigneury to Jessup and Sherwood. Where townships lay inland they would be ‘ten miles square’. All townships would be divided into ‘1,000 acre concession blocks’ which could be subdivided into ‘100 acre’ farm lots. Each township was to have a townsite in the centre, or midway along its waterfront. An American section was one square mile, but a concession block measured a mile and a quarter square. Such a plan did not trouble Justus, for he would simply add two furlongs to the kind of sections he had surveyed back in Vermont.
Haldimand planned to establish sixteen townships at first. Eight were to be along the upper St. Lawrence, commencing at Pointe au Baudet, fifteen kilometres west of the boundary of the last French seigneury, leaving a gap as a buffer between anglophone and francophone.9 The other eight would start at Cataraqui, west of the rocky portion which Justus had branded unfit for cultivation. In addition, Butler's Rangers were already establishing themselves and their dependents on land that had been purchased from the Mississauga Indians in 1781. Of the townships along the St. Lawrence, the lower five were for the first battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York, and the upper three for the Loyal Rangers. True to his Swiss background, the governor was assigning individual ‘cantons’ to the distinct groups of settlers.
Of the townships being laid out in the vicinity of Cataraqui, the first was for a party of loyalists from New York City led by Captain Michael Grass. The second was for the Loyal Rangers, the third for the King's Rangers and the second battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York, the fourth for another group who had come from New York City under the command of Major Peter van Alstyne, and the fifth for disbanded German troops who wanted to remain in Canada. The other three townships would be for stragglers, since Haldimand suspected that the migration was far from over.
He also set aside a tract along the Bay of Quinte for some Mohawk Indians, who preferred that location to the lands along the Grand River Valley that had been purchased for most of the Six Nations refugees. The Royal Highland Emigrants did not need a township. Many had been recruited in Canada and their homes were intact; those who needed land were to be accommodated with the first battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York, which had many Highlanders in it, or near the upper posts where they were disbanded.
As his superintendent to resettle the refugees Haldimand appointed Sir John Johnson, with Major Jessup and Captain Sherwood as his assistants. Early in February the two provincial officers left Quebec City, driving along the ice of the St. Lawrence in bitter weather. Much had to be done before spring and Justus was still weak. The two parted company at Sorel, Justus to ride to Fort St. Johns on an army horse, the major to continue in the sleigh to Verchéres where most of the Loyal Rangers were encamped. Twelve of Jessup's and Rogers' men were still at the Loyal Blockhouse with Thomas Sherwood, receiving more refugees, and at Fort St. Johns Dr. Smyth was issuing passports to men who wished to go into the United States and bring out their families.
When he reached his house, Justus was plunged into a crisis. Levius, then Diana succumbed to smallpox, and Sarah soon followed. Justus blamed himself until Smyth, very solicitous, assured him that Levius would have been ill much sooner if he had infected him. In Smyth's opinion, both children had been exposed outside the house, for there were other cases at the fort. Sarah caught the disease because she refused to leave the nursing of her babes to a stranger. Young children tended to suffer convulsions even with a mild case of smallpox, and they needed her.
On February 24, Justus informed Mathews that his daughter was out of danger, his son on the way to recovery, but he was very alarmed for Sarah and could not leave her even for a moment. Immune himself, he stayed with his loved ones, setting aside all other work. He thanked God that Samuel was at school in Montreal and had escaped exposure. Dr. Smyth remained at Fort St. Johns, redeeming himself for the times when he had been a less than satisfactory deputy during the war. On March 1, Justus' vigil was drawing to a close, and he informed Mathews, ‘Mrs. Sherwood is, I hope, out of danger but very weak & low. I have not been able to leave her one hour’.10
Now that he had time to look outside the house, Justus was disconcerted by dissent that had spread among the disbanded provincials and their families, hovering in their encampments waiting for the winter to end. For weeks dissatisfaction had been building up in the refugee camps. Many people were unhappy with the remote location Haldimand had chosen for them. The upper St. Lawrence was too far from Montreal, the market for their produce once they had a surplus to trade. While Justus was too busy to pay attention to most of the discontent, Haldimand had received reports from others. On February 2, Sir John Johnson wrote from Montreal much perturbed:
Some evil Designing persons are endeavouring to dissuade the disbanded Men and other Loyalists from taking the Lands offered them by Government, telling them if they accept them they will be as much Soldiers as ever, and liable to be called upon at Pleasure; and that the terms are not favourable as those of the Neighbouring States, where they are not prohibited from erecting Mills – and that it will be better for them to take up Lands from Signiors in the heart of the Province.11
In the letter Justus wrote to Mathews on March 1, he passed on news that Dr. Smyth had deliberately kept from him until his worries over the family eased. Certain of the half-pay officers had already taken matters into their own hands:
the people of this place seem well inclin'd for Cataraqui except for a number who are dictated by Captains Myers & Pritchard, Lt. Ruyter Lt. Wehr and Ensn Coonrod Best, these have begun a Settlement at Mississqui Bay, and (I shudder to inform you) declare that nothing but Superior force shall drive them off that land. My informer is Dr. Smyth, who I suppose will write you on the subject.12
Justus was not surprised that John Walden Meyers and Azariah Pritchard were the ringleaders. Lieutenant John Ruiter and Ensign Conrad Best were Meyers' junior officers, and most of his company in the Loyal Rangers were with them.
In a more detailed report, Dr. Smyth shielded Justus, for also at Mississquoi Bay on Lake Champlain, were John Peters and Thomas Sherwood. Justus' cousin had visited the would be colonists, and Meyers informed him that he had enough land selected to raise 1,000 bushels of corn. When Justus begged Thomas to reconsider, he came to Fort St. Johns and admitted that he had a practical motive for casting envious eyes towards Meyers' enterprise. Anna was pregnant, and Thomas wanted a permanent home without delay.
Meyers was only being practical, too. At Mississquoi Bay was open meadowland that could be ploughed without the necessity of chopping down trees first. However, the motives of other half-pay officers were suspect. Pritchard was planning to enhance his fortunes with a little smuggling. John Peters was there out of spite, making things awkward because of his humiliating demotion when the Loyal Rangers were formed.
Justus sent two non-commissioned officers to inspect the illicit settlement, who reported that the officers intended to remain where they were, regardless of the consequences. They had read Lord North's declaration with respect to resettling loyalists, and were convinced that Haldimand had no right to dictate where they would live. As soon as Justus apprised His Excellency of this insubordination, Haldimand issued an order on March 4, published in the Quebec Gazette. All persons waiting for land, those destined for Sorel and Chaleur Bay excepted, were to assemble at Lachine by April 10, 1784, and any who failed to comply would not receive any more rations.
The governor was determined to avoid placing any refugees close to the border of Vermont. Some of the men at Mississquoi Bay were the very ones who might provoke retaliation by former rebels in New York. The location was too sensitive for John Walden Meyers, who had waged his own war around Albany. Justus thought that Meyers' performance was what might be expected from an apolitical tenant farmer from New York. He reserved his real wrath for plotters from Connecticut, whom he described to Mathews as, ‘blowing the coals of sedition like two furies’.13
The squabbling continued as Haldimand pursued his plans t
o resettle the refugees. Sir John Johnson, who was supposed to be the superintendent of the loyalists, was fully occupied assisting the refugee Indians who also needed new homes. In his capacity as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Johnson was also looking for a way to prevent American reprisals against the loyal Indians in the Ohio Valley who had been left inside the United States by the boundary settlement.
On March 4, Mathews wrote to Justus asking him to purchase food supplies. Unable to leave Sarah, he sent Elijah Bothum to Vermont to see what arrangements he could make.14 Soon afterward Justus went to the Loyal Blockhouse, and on the 24th he informed Mathews, ‘I have sold my farm at Dutchman's point to a Dr. Washburn of Vermont, reserving the Block House as King's property’.15 Justus felt he was entitled to make the sale, although he had no title to the property, hoping that Dr. Washburn would not have difficulty establishing ownership. When the deal was made, Washburn enquired when the King's garrison would be withdrawn, a question Justus could not answer.
With his report of March 1, Justus had forwarded a letter from Josiah Cass, the schoolmaster at Machiche, who was worrying over the governor's plans. Mathews requested Justus to reassure Cass, because he could describe the lands at Cataraqui to him. The major continued, ‘The journey and conveyance, you can inform him, is by no means so tedious or difficult as he conceives them to be’.16
His Excellency could furnish only provisions and tools. Private seigneurs were offering cattle and farming utensils, or money to purchase them, which was causing loyalists daily to take land in the seigneuries, but Haldimand doubted that such landlords could keep their promises. Furthermore, Cataraqui had advantages of climate, situation and soil over the lower St. Lawrence, and the prospect of a better agriculture than in the more easterly parts of the province.
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