Buckskin Pimpernel

by Mary Beacock Fryer

  By April, Justus was trying desperately to persuade dissenters to accept Haldimand's plan, and to put an end to the controversy he urged the governor to speed up his preparations for transporting the refugees up the St. Lawrence.17 The sooner the loyalists were removed from the influence of the anglophone seigneurs the better. Many of the New Yorkers wanted to accept their enducements rather than travel away to the west, but Justus expected little else of men who had lived most of their lives as tenant farmers in the old province.

  Justus saw no reason why the remoteness from Montreal should be a handicap to trade. He had lived on the distant frontier in Vermont and had never found that location a disadvantage. Personally he had no desire to live among the Canadians, for he could never fit into their communities. He was still not aware of the ruling that the new townships were to be seigneuries, and he envisaged the land Haldimand had chosen becoming somewhat like Connecticut but with gentler laws — or at least the same casual disregard for harsh statutes the people of Vermont manifested — and pretty towns sited along the upper St. Lawrence. Some day his people would hold town meetings, and the governor might establish a separate province. It would have a legislative assembly, and surely an elected governor, who would be one of the people and serve their interests faithfully. Subjects who had remained loyal through the dreadful conflict deserved no less.

  Justus was also making plans for his family. He petitioned for the mill site he liked in Township Number 2 beside the upper St. Lawrence, on the stream that emptied into the river just above the Long Sault Rapids. The land was poor, but the waterfall perfect for saw and grist mills. Haldimand ignored the request, because mills were the duty of the government which would in effect serve as the seigneur to the loyalists. Deputy-Surveyor John Collins had built a sawmill near Cataraqui so that the settlers could have lumber for their new homes sawn free of charge.18

  In reward for his services, Haldimand granted Justus ‘200 acres’ at Chaleur Bay, and a ‘town lot and 60 acres’ at Sorel.19 All would be investments, since Justus intended to settle in the westerly townships. In time he planned to sell the land at Chaleur Bay, and the lots at Sorel could be leased. Some of the older refugees, among them Dr. and Mrs. Smyth, were planning to settle at Sorel, since they could not face the rough wilderness. Justus was looking forward to life in the new townships, where lumbering was the way to make money, as he knew from his days in Vermont. The St. Lawrence was a fine transport route for rafts, provided these were built strongly enough to withstand the journey down the rapids.

  Meanwhile, Edward Jessup was at Lachine with some of his officers, hard at work on the preparations for the coming migration. Bateaux were under construction, flat-bottomed and small enough for the Canadian crews to manhandle them through the swift waters. Food and clothing had to be moved there from storehouses at Sorel, and axes, hoes and other tools collected. In May, Haldimand journeyed to Lachine to inspect the situation for himself, and he was disappointed that so little progress in moving the people had been made, owing to the lateness of the spring. By the end of April, lumps of ice still floated in the St. Lawrence and the governor's order to assemble by April 10 proved unworkable. There was little point in moving thousands of people to Lachine before the ice had left the river.

  To Justus' satisfaction the governor was coping with the illegal settlement at Mississquoi Bay. Captain Pritchard agreed to go to Chaleur Bay, a good place for a Yankee trader, and Captain Meyers had made a deal with His Excellency. The big German had crops planted, and Haldimand agreed to let him remain at Mississquoi Bay until after the harvest, but then he must bring his family to join the other refugees in the new townships.20 John Peters took his wife and six youngest children to Cape Breton, and John Jr. was planning to go to Cataraqui because he was enamoured of a daughter of Major Rogers. Peters' second son, Andrew, was then in Vermont visiting friends and collecting family possessions.

  While Edward Jessup worked at Lachine, Justus was at Fort St. Johns gathering supplies and forwarding them. Thomas Sherwood bought some seed corn in Arlington, Vermont, while Justus' brother Samuel went in search of cattle there that belonged to loyalists in Canada. Haldimand allowed some purchases in New York, but he did not want regular trade with the former rebels. Justus proposed bringing in cattle through Oswego, owing to the difficulty of driving livestock up the St. Lawrence through the woods, with little forage and awkward rivers to cross.21 Families were moving into Lachine, as Justus and Dr. Smyth were busy closing down the secret service. To pay their agents' arrears and other expenses they drew 79 pounds, 17 shillings.22 All through the winter twelve Loyal Rangers and King's Rangers had remained on duty at the Loyal Blockhouse under the command of Thomas Sherwood. As the time for migration drew near, they were withdrawn and replaced by a garrison of British regulars.23

  Once Justus had his accounts in order, he joined Edward Jessup at Lachine to help send off the bateaux of refugees to their new homes. Sir John Johnson was still preoccupied with the affairs of the Indians. Sherwood and Jessup were to organize the bateaux into brigades. The boats were about seven metres long, and each was to hold four to five families. A brigade was twelve boats that would travel together.24 The task of sorting out who would go where, with which household goods, was a formidable one that required both patience and endurance, but by the middle of May the first brigade had started upriver bound for Cataraqui.

  Chapter 18

  Scapegoats to the Wilderness

  After the second brigade had set out, Major Jessup asked Justus to go to Fort St. Johns and round up a party of stragglers. When Justus reached the fort he requisitioned the necessary bateaux and sailed down the Richelieu to Sorel. He reported to Mathews on May 23 that he had arrived there with ‘76 souls of Jessup's Corps with whom I shall proceed this day for Cataraqui’.1 In closing he added, ‘I hope to hear from you as frequently as Convenient at Cataraqui’.

  At Lachine he stopped so that his people could receive their provisions and clothing. Major Jessup ordered him to wait until he had a whole brigade ready, and amidst considerable confusion Justus did what he could to help. Men argued, women tried to keep children together, babies fretted, dogs howled and fought. Justus handed out supplies and assigned people to boats. Each man and boy over ten years of age was entitled to a coat, waistcoat, breeches, hat, shirt, blanket, shoe soles, leggings and stockings. Each woman and girl over ten was to receive ‘two yards of woollen cloth, four yards of linen’ and a pair of stockings, a blanket and shoe soles. Each child under ten was entitled to ‘one yard of woollen cloth and two yards of linen’ and stockings, shoe soles, and every two children would share a blanket.

  For the journey there was one tent for every five persons, and one cooking kettle per tent.2 The families would camp until they had houses ready, then all tents were to be returned to the quartermaster's stores in Sorel. Each family was issued with one month's provisions, the rest of their food to be given them when they reached Cataraqui. Finding items the right size for the men and boys, and space in the boats was exhausting. Family size varied, as did the quantity of household goods. Dr. Solomon Jones, of the Loyal Rangers, had a grandfather clock, while others lacked such basic items as bedding. At length Justus had his brigade organized, some boats with only three families, others with six, single men and boys fitted wherever there was room.

  Justus required a stiff rum once everyone was in place, and the boatmen pushed off towards the Côlteau du Lac Canal. He found that the journey took longer than he anticipated. Pitching tents and settling families each night was time consuming, as was cooking for such a large group along the way. By acting like a drill sergeant, Justus got the brigade to Cataraqui by June 3, not two weeks after he had left Sorel. Major John Ross administered oaths of allegiance as required by Haldimand, and distributed hoes, axes and certificates for farm lots.

  Behind Justus, Major Jessup organized another brigade and led it as far as Township Number 6 beside the St. Lawrence. Major Samuel Holland appointed Justus a dep
uty-surveyor at a salary of seven shillings and sixpence per day and sent him back down the river to assist Jessup. The surveyors were struggling to get enough lot lines run so that the refugees waiting there could be settled. Justus joined the now empty brigade for the journey downstream. Almost in the centre of Township Number 6 was a clearing with an old cabin that had been built by French traders years before, and there Justus found Jessup, surrounded by tents and looking frazzled. He ordered Justus to survey a town plot in the clearing before people wanting to reside there could turn it into a squatter settlement.

  Justus walked over the site, envisaging where he would lay out the green, with house lots on either side of it. When he discussed his plan with Jessup, the other ordered him to lay out only a large block of house lots. Sadly Justus set to work, wondering whether Jessup was being short-sighted. This very first town beside the upper St. Lawrence might one day become an important city, and the defects of its original plan would affect generations unborn. Although Jessup, too, had been born in Connecticut, he had moved to New York when he was nine years old. He did not treasure the memory of the pretty towns of his early youth. Justus laid out the dull grid plan with no central place, a New York town, not a New England one. Where, when the time came, would people erect their public buildings?

  Before Justus had finished, Jessup left for Cataraqui to see to the needs of the Loyal Rangers who were moving into Township Number 2 of that settlement. He left Justus in command of the lower settlement, and on July 2, cheered by the progress he witnessed around him, Justus reported to Mathews:

  I have been continuously Employ'd here since the 5th of last month in laying out a Town half a mile square into lots of 8 Rods square – and in laying out the second Concession; Giving the people the necessary oaths and their Certificates etc3

  Rations and tools were short, Justus complained to the governor's secretary. He had received 487 axes, 110 hoes, 20 bush hooks, 13 grindstones, 39 frows (a tool for making shingles) and some knives. He asked for more of all these, as well as two sets of blacksmith's tools, two sets of carpenter's tools, and one set of each for the Loyal Rangers settling at Cataraqui, also half a dozen whip saws and as many crosscut saws with whatever glass and nails Haldimand was allowing for people's huts, adding, ‘the Bush Hooks should be in the form of short scythes’. He begged that rations not be reduced, since his settlers could not do hard labour without adequate food:

  as they have no milk nor butter nor any kind of vegetables whatever, no fresh meat nor fish except now and then by Chance a few small pan fish taken with hook and line and even this trifling resource must fail in the winter season4

  To help some needy people, Justus bought ‘100 bushels of seed’ out of his own purse. The men in the ranks had received only provisions and clothing since they were disbanded. On July 7, Major John Ross at Cataraqui complained of similar shortages, blaming Sherwood for some of the deficiencies:

  there is scarce a turnip seed, if it was Sent it was embezzled on the road, they have no Seed wheat, and many not So much as a blanket to Cover them in Winter, and the wish of the great part is to return at all hazard, in Short Axes and Hoes have not yet come up for half of them, it is said Ct. Sherwood Stopp'd more than his proportion at Oswegatchie.

  Loyalist Townships along the St. Lawrence and Bay of Quinte 1784

  Eight townships were laid out beside the upper St. Lawrence. The lower five were the New Johnstown settlement, the upper three New Oswegatchie. The first five around the Bay of Quinte were the Cataraqui settlement. When they were named, #1 beside the St. Lawrence was Charlottenburgh, #2 Cornwall, #3 Osnabrück, #4 Williamsburgh, #5 Matilda, #6 Edwardsburgh, #7 Augusta, #8 Elizabethtown. Of the Bay of Quinte townships, #1 was Kingston, #2 Ernestown, #3 Fredericksburgh, #4 Adolphustown, #5 Marysburgh. Also shown are the first three townsites, Kingston (#1 Cataraqui), Johnstown (#6 New Oswegatchie), New Johnstown (#2 New Johnstown).

  Apart from accusing Justus, perhaps unfairly, Ross referred to many refugees arriving by way of Carleton Island, who were not provided with clothing and food those coming from Lachine had received. Ross commented:

  Disputes amongst the Loyalists frequently arise, the most material as yet between Master & Servant, where Severe Correction Seems to take place, an Evil which requires a Speedy remedy…. Strange is the Collection of people here5

  The loyalists' collective personality was bewildering, even to a Scotsman whose own countrymen were not noted for their peaceable qualities. The same conditions were to be found in the townships opposite Fort Oswegatchie, but Justus was dealing with his own people and he did not feel that anything extraordinary was happening.

  While Justus was busy with the settlers, the Reverend John Stuart came upriver with a brigade and called at the townsite looking for him. The clergyman was planning to settle his family at Cataraqui, hoping to be appointed the chaplain to the garrison. Anxiously Justus enquired about Stuart's school. The other said that he intended keeping the academy in Montreal open for the winter and would be glad to have Samuel as a pupil again. Stuart did not expect to move for at least a year, and when he did he anticipated re-opening his school.

  Major Jessup returned from Cataraqui, too ill to carry on, and Justus continued his administrative duties. Each head of family had to take an oath of allegiance, then draw a certificate for his lot from Justus' bicorne hat. Haldimand had ordered this game of chance to ensure that the officers did not take all the best land. For himself, Justus set aside Lots 8 and 9 in the first concession of Township Number 7, and he reserved Lots 14, 15 and 16 for a town plot. Although he could not begin surveying it, he kept a list of settlers who wanted town lots in addition to farm lots. He intended to make certain that this town plot in Township Number 7 would have a green as its central place, facing the river. Seeking Haldimand's approval, Justus informed Mathews:

  I have taken my Farm at this place nearly opposite Oswegatcha, and three small Town Lots – am as well satisfy'd as I could have been in any place Except No. 2 At the Mouth of Quinty Bay.

  Justus felt well within his rights in setting this land aside for himself. His captaincy entitled him to much more land. He chose Lot 7 beside his farm lots for his brother Samuel, who was still at Fort St. Johns. For Elijah Bothum, Justus selected Lots 26 and 27, also in Township Number 7, and for Thomas Sherwood he set aside Lot 1 in Township Number 8. All were in the first concession and had water frontage. Justus disobeyed Haldimand to make sure that his kinsmen would not be marooned in back concessions when they arrived with their families.

  On July 23, Justus informed Mathews: The people have all got their farms to work, they are universally pleas'd and seem to Emulate each other in their Labour, inasmuch that almost every lot in the front of our three Townships and many of the back Concessions have already Considerable improvements and the Country begins to wear a very promising appearance.6

  Early in August, Justus called on John Dulmage, in Township Number 6, and asked him to take charge of hearing oaths and handing out certificates to new arrivals. Major Jessup was still ailing, and Justus wanted a leave of absence to bring the Sherwood families from Fort St. Johns. He could not wait longer, because Anna Sherwood's time was drawing near, and he knew that Thomas wanted her settled soon. With an empty brigade, Justus returned to Lachine, and continued on to Fort St. Johns. There he learned that Elijah Bothum was shopping for supplies in Vermont. Mathews had warned him to be discreet since he had come on behalf of the British government, lest the locals raise their prices or refuse to sell to him.7 Lemuel, Sarah's youngest brother, had gone with him after a lengthy visit in Canada.8

  Their possessions packed, the three Sherwood families left for Sorel in a bateau. Justus was elated on this second journey to the settlement beside the St. Lawrence. He was introducing seven children to the new country, theirs to develop and make fruitful. Young Samuel was nearly ten, Diana seven, Levius six. Of Thomas' brood, Reuben was fifteen, Anna twelve, Adiel five. Samuel's daughter Rachel was the same age as Adiel.
Riding in the bateau, Justus was overcome with weariness. Sarah, too, was exhausted, and when walking past the rapids as the boatmen drew the bateaux upstream they set a leisurely pace. With them walked Thomas, an arm round Anna's fulsome waist, while Caesar Congo gave Levius and Adiel turns riding on his back.9

  When they reached the town plot in Township Number 6, Justus dispensed tools and provisions to Samuel and Thomas, and they proceeded on to their respective farm lots with their families. Justus stayed to relieve John Dulmage, and Sarah and the children remained in a tent until he could find time to remove them to the lots he had selected in Township Number 7. In a few days Major Jessup felt well enough to carry on, and Justus left the townsite, which he had named Newtown. Exploring along the shore he found a spot where the woods seemed thin on Lot 9. Aided by Caesar Congo, with some help from small Samuel, he cleared a space, cutting trees and underbrush. His labour was soon interrupted by the appearance of Elijah Bothum, accompanied by the two slaves who had remained in New Haven with Simon.

  Justus was gratified for he could use all the assistance available. With Elijah helping, the men cut logs six metres long for the front and rear walls, and four and one-half metres for the sides. Knotching the logs at the corners, they planned to lay them one upon another to a height of two and a half metres. Justus' brother Samuel and his slave came from Lot 7 to help raise the frame, and the others were a large enough work party to lay the walls. The roof was of elm bark, and Justus cut a door and one window on the side that faced the river. The floor was of split logs laid round side down, the hearth of flat stones.

  For a chimney the men used stones from the shore, fastened with clay for mortar to the same height as the walls, and above of small sticks plastered with more clay. They chinked the logs with clay and sticks, and a blanket served as the door until Justus found the time to cut boards with a whip saw. From government stores he drew four small panes of glass, and fitted them into a rough sash. When finished, Justus thought his cabin superior to the hovels many of Vermont's settlers had built in the wilds. There the first windows were usually of oiled paper, and many had dirt floors for years on end.10