Buckskin Pimpernel

by Mary Beacock Fryer

  In May the house was habitable, and Sarah moved in, delighted with the space and airiness, both accentuated by a lack of furniture. Justus promised to buy some when he was in Montreal. The house, itself, was superior to the one they had left in New Haven, in keeping with plans Justus had treasured. Now his family had a suitable home, and he had achieved his goal. On the 21st he rode to a back concession to inspect his survey party, and when he returned Sarah told him that he had missed seeing Major Robert Mathews. Dorchester's aide-de-camp had landed from a bateau, accompanied by Major Jessup, who had recently come to the township after a long visit to England.

  They waited half an hour, hoping to see Justus, but Mathews was in a hurry, on his way to Detroit and anxious to reach the fort there because Dorchester wanted a report as soon as possible. In his journal, Mathews reported that Sherwood had ‘built a very tollerable House upon his Town Lot in new Oswegatchie, some distance from his Farm, and has already a Potash going forward’.12 Justus was disappointed to have missed Haldimand's former secretary. Mathews would have been the perfect messenger to inform Dorchester of the serious consequences to be anticipated from the drought.

  By late June the British commissioners hearing claims for compensation had shown no signs of coming to the settlements. Impatient over the delay, Justus went to Montreal with one of the brigades to present his claim. He needed witnesses, and he knew of several who were still in the city. He rounded up Abner Woolcot, a neighbour from New Haven, Samuel Rose, who had sold him his first farm in Sunderland, and Ensign Roger Stevens, the chatty scout in the secret service.13 Justus was armed with some faded deeds, and a letter from Haldimand, now Sir Frederick, made a Knight of the Bath for his services in Canada.14

  Justus saw the commissioners on July 5, and with his three witnesses he filed a claim for 1,209 pounds, fifteen shillings and sixpence. He had lost ‘2,985 acres of land’, of which ‘1,000 acres’ was in the Susquehanna Valley, the rest in Vermont. A secretary wrote down his testimony, received a memorial he had composed, and promised that he would hear from the commissioners soon. Leaving, Justus prayed they would be generous. Yet Haldimand had been tight-fisted with public money and he resolved not to be too optimistic. He purchased some furniture for his house, and set off in a brigade for home.

  There, a disagreeable matter awaited him. Deputy-Surveyor John Collins and Mr. William Dummer Powell were in the townships investigating complaints. They reported from Kingston (in the oldest document to use the modern name) that they expected to hear:

  such complaint in the 5th Township, New Oswegatchie [more correctly New Johnstown] of the conduct of Justus Sherwood Esquire in the 3rd Township of Cataraqui against Jeptha Hawley Esqr. as tradeing Justices, but to our great surprise not a Complaint was heard in either Township and from our personal Knowledge of the Parties we are apprehensive that Complaint had been suppressed15

  Jeptha Hawley may have been guilty of taking bribes, but in Sherwood's case the complaint originated in Township Number 5, where dwelt John Munro, magistrate in the New Hampshire Grants on behalf of New York. A contemporary definition of tradeing justices ran, ‘low fellows smuggled into the commission of the peace who subsist by fomenting disputes, granting warrants and otherwise retailing justice’.16

  Munro was venting his hatred on Sherwood, one of the few former Green Mountain Boys who was vulnerable. When the report from Collins and Powell reached Quebec City, Lord Dorchester did not take the charge against Justus seriously. He knew enough about events in the Green Mountains to dismiss the aspersion as Munro's desire for revenge. Justus, too, ignored Munro's pettiness. Other matters preoccupied him. The crops were very thin and the harvest would be small.

  Once the summer's work was done and he had gleaned what he could from the parched fields, he prepared to take another timber raft to Quebec City, and he intended to see Lord Dorchester to discuss the coming food shortage. The raft complete, he left his farm, his two sons and Reuben as crew, planning to buy supplies in Montreal on his return journey.

  In Quebec City, Justus found that the governor had a new residence, the Château Haldimand, a small and cosier dwelling than the Château St. Louis. Haldimand had begun demolishing the drafty old building before he left Canada, and Dorchester was the beneficiary of his predecessor's preoccupation with comforts. Justus received an appointment with the governor, at which his deputy, General Alured Clarke, was in attendance. Justus enquired whether His Lordship could change the ruling that loyalists must some day pay quit rents. The governor was sympathetic, and emboldened, Justus asked when the province might have a legislative assembly.

  Dorchester frowned, and muttered that no doubt those Yankees in the new townships would want to elect their governor. Forthright, Justus admitted that they did. The governor smiled patronizingly, and let Justus run on for some time. Alured Clarke, looked alarmed. Why had Brigadier St. Leger recommended the appointment of a loud-mouthed Yankee democrat to the legislative council? Captain Sherwood seemed a born troublemaker.

  Justus enquired whether Dorchester had done anything about competition from Vermont in the timber trade. The governor was reticent. Vermont was still making overtures for reunion, and besides, Britain could use all the timber she could get. Dorchester assured Justus that he would be able to sell rafts at a respectable profit for years to come. In Montreal, Justus shopped for food, but found little to be had. Everywhere the drought had been severe. Very worried, the Sherwoods joined a brigade bound for New Oswegatchie.

  During the war, many officers had belonged to the Freemason's Lodge in Montreal, but Justus had not had time to join the order. Meetings had been held at Fort Oswegatchie, but on October 19 the members convened for the first time on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, at the home of Thomas Sherwood. Justus was absent with his raft, but the November meeting was held in his house.7 He joined, not for the philosophies embraced, but for companionship, the chance to congregate and exchange views, and to complain about the government. Principles such as religious tolerance and freedom for all men needed qualification. Justus disapproved of Roman Catholics, and owned slaves. Yet the double standard was merely part of his Yankee inheritance, that mixture of greed, acceptance of certain conditions, and good works that had been bred into him before he left Connecticut.

  That autumn of 1787, Simon Bothum wrote offering to purchase “200 acres” of Justus' land in New Haven for 200 dollars. Justus agreed, for he could use the extra money. Late in November he found out just how badly he would need that money, for in a letter dated the 20th, the British commissioners in Montreal informed him that he had been awarded 229 pounds sterling for his farm in Sunderland, one house, and the furniture taken from his home in New Haven. Although Justus had calculated his losses at more than 1,200 pounds New York currency, and had expected roughly 600 pounds sterling, the commissioners were not convinced that some of his deeds were genuine, especially the land in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley.8 They had delivered chilling news on the eve of what was to be the harshest winter in Sherwood's life.

  Chapter 20

  Fading Light

  The British commissioners were downright niggardly with Justus Sherwood. John Walden Meyers, living on the Bay of Quinte, stated his losses at 400 pounds New York, and was awarded 247 pounds sterling.1 Since New York currency was worth slightly more than half the value of sterling, Meyers received about what he requested. Sherwood was awarded less than a brother officer who had never owned an acre of land in the Thirteen Colonies.

  Sorrowing, Justus prepared to ride to Montreal to collect his pittance. That late in the season no bateau would be available to bring him home. He followed the river bank, crossing Lake of Two Mountains on a wooden ferry, and once in the city he sought out a reliable merchant with whom to invest the money so that it would grow. Retracing his steps, he felt as bleak as the cold, cheerless landscape around him. As he drew near New Oswegatchie, snow fell, fine stuff driven against his face by strong winds. Grimly he put the horse in the small stable
beside his house, and he paused to look towards the grey river that separated him from his real homeland. He could survive the cold and hunger, but this time Sarah and his children would suffer with him.

  The winter was remembered in later times as ‘The Hungry Year’. One by one Justus butchered his precious livestock, sparing the cow, for Sarah was pregnant again. He hoped to save the horses, but the oxen he killed for his family and the neighbours. He rationed the stock of food, and to curb appetites the men did only necessary chores. Despite his hunger pangs, Justus continued fussing about the administration of justice, and the February 28 issue of the Quebec Gazette carried a public letter to Lord Dorchester asking for English civil law. Sherwood's signature was there along with several others.

  The weeks dragged by in an endless quest for game. The family chopped holes in the ice of the St. Lawrence, and spent hours with lines lowered into the water. Whenever Justus heard of a family in severe distress, he felt obliged to send some of his own dwindling cache of food. Finally the settlers had to consume their seed potatoes and seed grains. When spring came no one had anything to plant. In Quebec City, Dorchester informed the home government that relief supplies were urgently needed, and in time a large shipment of seed arrived from Britain.

  When the snow melted Justus put his emaciated horses out to scrounge, and the cow was not in much better condition. Fortunately, good climate conditions prevailed as the growing season arrived, but shortages would persist because seed was rationed to ensure that everyone got some. With money to spend, Justus and his family were not as hard pressed as the men who had served in the ranks and did not have funds to buy livestock for a fresh start. The people in the settlements were back where they had been when they first arrived and most were disheartened.

  On July 24, 1788, Lord Dorchester issued a proclamation instituting more local government. The area west of the Ottawa River he divided into four new districts. Luneburg, where Justus resided, extended from the last French seigneury to the Gananoque River. West of Luneburg lay Mecklenburg, Nassau and Hesse — German names chosen to please King George.

  Each district would have Courts of Common Pleas to handle civil cases. For criminal cases there would be Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Justices of the Peace, of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery. Each district would have a land board to award grants to new settlers, and additional grants to those entitled to them.

  General Gaol Delivery posed a problem since Justus' district lacked a place of incarceration. In preparation for the operation of the courts, Dorchester appointed more justices of the peace, among them Thomas Sherwood and William Buell. The governor decided it was time the townships had names, and he honoured the numerous offspring of the King. Number 7, where Justus had his farm, became Augusta; Number 8 was Elizabethtown; Number 6 with the townsite called Johnstown was Edwardsburgh, Number 5, where John Munro had built a house at least as fine as Sherwood's, became Matilda.2

  Dorchester established a militia, and he sent a commission to Edward Jessup making him a lieutenant-colonel for a battalion to be raised in Edwardsburgh, Augusta and Elizabethtown.3 Jessup suggested Sherwood as his second-in-command, and the governor approved. Justus was an outspoken man, but a fine soldier who would make an excellent major for the battalion.

  Late in the summer Sarah gave birth to another daughter whom they named Harriet.4 All told, 1788 was a more satisfactory year than 1787. In the autumn Lord Dorchester came to inspect the new townships, and was pleased with what he found.5 The settlements were flourishing, and many residents assured him that they were better off than before the revolution.6 The people along the St. Lawrence were recovering, but all had one complaint. They were upset because the 84th Regiment Royal Highland Emigrants had received larger land grants, unfair because other provincials had seen more action. Dorchester responded in a most acceptable way, by raising all grants to match those given the 84th.

  After this ruling, Justus' captaincy entitled him to ‘3,000 acres’ from the crown. Here was salve for his wounded spirits. He would soon have more land than he had possessed in Vermont and the Susquehanna Valley, although he was concerned that he might some day be expected to pay quit rents. From time to time he heard news of the Aliens. Levi was at Fort St. Johns, corresponding with Justus, and Ira sent the occasional letter.7 One day Justus received a bulky package from Levi, which contained the culmination of the philosophical studies Ethan had bragged about in the autumn of 1780 during that alarming visit to the Green Mountains. Ethan had published his book in Bennington, after printers in Connecticut refused it out of fear of the Congregational Church. Justus swallowed hard as he contemplated the title:

  Reason the only Oracle of Man or a Compenduous System of Natural Religion Alternately Adorned with Confutations of a variety of Doctrines Incompatible to it; Deduced from the most exalted Ideas which we are able to form of the Divine and Human Characters And From the Universe in General

  The book caused a storm among the ministers in Connecticut, which Justus thought after leafing through it, might be its main claim to posterity.8 Thinking over the poorly expressed doctrine of deism, Justus decided to have his two baby daughters christened. The Reverend Stuart was 100 kilometres away in Kingston, while some 80 kilometres to the east was the Reverend John Bethune, a Presbyterian minister and former chaplain to the Royal Highland Emigrants. The distance was not much less but the road was better.

  On February 12, 1789, with Sarah and Diana, the babes well wrapped, Justus drove his sleigh eastward, stopping for a night in the village of New Johnstown (now Cornwall). The following day they went on to Williamstown, where dwelt the Reverend Bethune. In St. Andrew's Church, the minister performed the ceremony, and the Sherwoods began their homeward trek. Not long afterward, Justus received a letter from Ira Allen. On February 17, Ethan had died on South Hero Island while visiting his nasty cousin Ebenezer.9 With the passing of the big mountain chieftain, one more link with Justus' past was broken.

  With the spring of 1789 came the time of ploughing and planting. Samuel and Levius returned from school by bateau, bringing a letter from the Reverend Stuart. He was closing his academy because he could not meet expenses. Justus was disappointed, but not without resources at hand. Some other half-pay officers had hired a teacher, Mr. Asa Starkwather, to instruct their children, and Levius could be one of his pupils.10 Samuel, nearly fifteen, had enough formal education and could join the survey crews as an apprentice.

  Edward Jessup went on another visit to England leaving Justus to oversee the welfare of the three townships. Life moved on serenely, except for many discussions over the state of the government. The new Luneburg District Land Board began to function, and Justus was appointed to this body. So was John Munro, soon sniping again at his old foe. On June 15 the Court of Quarter Sessions convened at a tavern in Osnabruck (formerly Township Number 3). Justus attended with other justices of the peace and heard several cases.11

  He built more rafts, and was on the road to becoming the man of property he had been before he left New Haven. While Justus was succeeding, Dorchester was making it easier for all loyalists to provide for their children. At age twenty-one, each was entitled to receive ‘200 acres’ or in the case of a daughter, earlier if she married.12

  Late in the autumn of 1789, Justus heard that Dr. Smyth had died. He had some unhappy memories of his association with Hudibras, but had long ago forgiven him and remembered only the Irish charm. Mrs. Smyth remained at Sorel with other elderly exiles who had not ventured up the St. Lawrence. Before the snow fell, Edward Jessup returned from England, bearing an intriguing reminder of Justus' former associates in Vermont. Levi Allen was visiting London at the same time as Jessup, who made some snide remarks. On August 12, Ethan's brother challenged Jessup to a duel, but the former commander of the Loyal Rangers refused to oblige him.13

  As the year 1790 opened, rumours circulated that something would soon be done about the seigneurial tenure that no one wanted and that had never been enforced
. Dorchester, in communication with Lord Sydney, the home secretary, was proposing the division of Canada in two parts to accommodate the aspirations of the loyalists. No one was more pleased than Justus, who had petitioned for changes in the laws. While it was not desirable to revoke the Quebec Act that gave French-speaking Canadians their rights, it was practicable to establish a separate province with English civil law in the western wilderness. And, to everyone's satisfaction, Dorchester had recommended that Sir John Johnson be the lieutenant-governor, a man whom Justus respected.

  In the autumn, Master Asa Starkwather's classes became a proper school. The teacher used a cabin at the old French fort on Lot 28 in the first concession of Augusta, and a subscription list was drawn up on December 7 for the privileges of firewood around the schoolhouse. Although Justus was not one of the subscribers, he sent Levius to the school. Samuel continued his apprenticeship, and Diana worked with Sarah, learning household skills.

  The settlers also started making plans for a church. They formed a committee of Justus, Simeon Colvell, Paul Heck, Daniel Jones, Asa Landon, Elijah Bothum, Thomas Sherwood and James Breakenridge. Others agreed to contribute cash, labour, food or lumber. Justus wanted to see a church overlooking the green on his town plot, but matters such as roads and land granting took precedence. Church attendance was a duty, rather than a pleasure, and having a place of worship was not of first importance.14

  With the coming of the year 1791, Justus found that his former home, as well as his present one, had new status. The latter had been divided into the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act. Each was to have a legislative assembly, legislative and executive councils. Upper Canada would have freehold tenure and English civil law, but the choice of a lieutenant-governor was disappointing. The home government was sending John Graves Simcoe. Dorchester was affronted, but his superiors felt that Sir John Johnson had too much property to be an impartial ruler. Although Justus would have preferred Johnson, he was looking forward to serving Simcoe on the new legislative council. He would automatically be a member, since his appointment was for life.