USA > Ohio > The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775-1777 > Part 11
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stores that are there. Connolly was to raise a regi- ment, as many Indians and partisans as he could ; to enable him to do this, he had power to engage to every person that entered into the service three hun- dred acres of land when the troubles are over, and whatever other pecuniary rewards he might think proper, was to appoint and commission all the officers under him, which commissions were to be confirmed by Dunmore.
With this force he was to destroy Fort Pitt and Fort Fincastle, 42 if the Americans should make any re- sistance, and meet Dunmore by the 20th of April next at Alexandria, where he, Dunmore was to land an army under the cannon of the ships of war. Con- nolly's companions were one Cameron,43 who is now a lieutenant, with promise of promotion, one Dr. Smith who says he was to be surgeon of Connolly's regiment :# the other was Connolly's servant.
42 For an account of Fort Fincastle see Dunmore's War, p. 86, note 35 .- ED.
43 Allen Cameron was a native of Scotland, and probably re- lated to the deputy Indian agent, John Stuart; see Ibid., p. 40, note 72. Connolly says (op. cit., in note 40, ante) that Cam- eron had been agent under Stuart, had suffered much for his principles, and had refused offers of military rank from South Carolinian patriots : that he had come to Virginia with dis- patches from the governors of East Florida and South Caro- lina, and knowing Indian character was considered by Lord Dunmore a proper person to join his (Connolly's) expedi- tion. In December, 1776, Cameron made an attempt to es- cape from the Philadelphia prison, but his rope broke, and he fell fifty feet, being found in an apparently dying condition. He partially recovered, however, and obtained his release in the winter of 1778, when he went to England, his physical con- dition debarring him from further military service .- ED.
44 John Ferdinand Dalziel Smyth was a native of Scotland, who came to America a few years before the Revolution, and according to his own account, published as A Tour in the
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They were brought into Frederick-Town on Wed- nesday morning, and on Thursday examined before the Committee. On searching their portmanteaus a copy of Connolly's plan was found.45 Thus you see a part of the diabolical scheme is defeated, but make no doubt but Dunmore will land an army at Alex-
United States of America (London, 1784), travelled extensively in all the southern and western portions of the country. He finally bought property and settled in Maryland, whence he was driven at the commencement of the Revolution, because of his Loyalist sentiments. Having visited Lord Dunmore at Norfolk, he was induced to embark in Connolly's expedition. A brief account of his arrest is given in Amer. Archives, 4th series, iv. p. 616, note. Having made a bold escape, and a sub- sequent push for Fort Pitt, charged with Connolly's orders, he was again arrested and his papers confiscated, he being sent to Philadelphia for confinement. He finally escaped from Balti- more in December, 1776, reached Lord Howe in New York, and was made captain in the Queen's Rangers. In that capacity he was in the battle of Germantown. Smyth had a facile pen, and wrote several Loyalist ballads and songs. His Tour is not to be trusted; he makes therein many unauthenticated statements .- ED.
45 For this plan, see succeeding document. In his "Narra- tive," Connolly says that the search of the committee for his papers was at first ineffectual, as both he and Dr. Smyth had destroyed all incriminating documents before leaving Norfolk. Yet "there was a manuscript that had been wrapt around a stick of black ball by my servant, so soiled and besmeared, as to have escaped the search both of ourselves there, and the committee here, who were as industrious as they were sus- picious. This paper, which contained a rough draft of propo- sitions, supposed to have been laid before General Gage by me, but which really was not the case, was discovered in con- sequence of a fresh examination demanded by a Member of Congress, who arrived at the committee some days after we had been taken to Frederick Town, and was published as my confession, though I repeatedly, and with truth, denied the justice of the supposition." Connolly also states that his im- portant papers were concealed in the pillion sticks of his sad- dle, that his servant obtained access to the shed where they were, and in the dead of the night destroyed all the papers save Connolly's commission, which he managed to have conveyed to him .- ED.
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andria in the spring; but as their scheme has thus providentially come to light, hope such preparations will be made, as will enable us to give him the re- ception he merits.
Proposals for raising an army to the Westward, and for effectually obstructing a communication be tween the Southern and Northern Governments.
"As I have, by directions from his Excellency Lord Dunmore, prepared the Ohio Indians to act in con- cert with me against his Majesty's enemies in that quarter ; and have also dispatched intelligence to the different officers of the militia on the frontiers of Augusta county, in Virginia, giving them Lord Dun- more's assurances that such of them as shall here- after evince their loyalty to his Majesty, by putting themselves under my command, when I should ap- pear amongst them with proper authority for that purpose, of a confirmation of titles to their lands, and the quantity of three hundred acres to all who should take up arms in support of the constitution, when the present rebellion subsided, I will undertake to pene- trate through Virginia, and join his Excellency Lord Dunmore at Alexandria carly next spring, on the fol- lowing conditions and authority.
"First, That your Excellency will give me a com- mission to act as major commandant of such troops as I may raise, and embody on the frontiers, with a power to command to the westward and employ such serviceable French and English partizans as I can engage by pecuniary rewards or otherwise.
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CONNOLLY'S PLOT
"Secondly, That your Excellency will give orders to Capt. Lord, at the Illinois, to remove himself, with the garrison under his command, from Fort Gage to Detroit,4" by the Anabache [Wabash], bring- ing with him all the artillery, stores, &c. &c. to fa- cilitate which undertaking he is to have authority to hire boats, horses, Frenchmen, Indians &c. &c. to proceed with all possible expedition on that rout, as the weather may occasionally permit, and to put him- self under my command on his arrival at Detroit.
"Thirdly, That the commissary at Detroit shall be empowered to furnish such provision as I may judge necessary for the good of the service, and that the commanding officer shall be instructed to give every possible assistance in encouraging the French and In- dians of that settlement to join me.
40 There has been considerable controversy over the site of Fort Gage, local tradition having long placed it on the east bank of Kaskaskia River, opposite the town. This appears to have been the actual site of an early French fort, known only as Kaskaskia, which was burned in 1766; and of Fort Gage, a later American fort, occupied in the first years of the nine- teenth century. The British Fort Gage, however, was situated in the village itself, on the west bank of the river, in the southeastern portion of the town. When Captain Lord was obliged to abandon Fort Chartres (1772), he removed the gar- rison to Kaskaskia, and occupied the house that had belonged to the Jesuit missionaries, which he stockaded and called Fort Gage. This was the stronghold captured by George Rogers Clark on July 4, 1778. The name was thereafter changed to Fort Clark.
Lord removed the garrison and most of his effects from Fort Gage to Detroit in May, 1776, leaving Philippe de Rocheblave in command, without a garrison. It has been assumed that Lord's retirement was due to Carleton's desire to concentrate and cut down expense. May not this project of Connolly and its failure account in at least some measure for the abandon- ment of the Illinois ?- ED.
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"Fourthly, That an officer of artillery be immedi- ately sent with me to pursue such rout as I may find most expedient to gain Detroit, with orders to have such pieces of light ordnance as may be thought re- quisite for the demolishing of Fort Dunmore and Fort Fincastle, if resistance should be made by the rebels in possession of those garrisons.
"Fifthily, That your Excellency will empower me to imake such reasonable presents to the Indian chiefs and others, as may urge them to act with vigor in the execution of my orders.
"Sixthly, That your Excellency will send to Lord Dunmore such arms as may be spared, in order to equip such persons as may be willing to serve his Majesty at our junction, in the vicinity of Alexan- dria, &c. &c. If your Excellency judges it expedi- ent for the good of the service, to furnish me with the authority and other requisites I have mentioned, I shall embrace the earliest opportunity of setting off for Canada, and shall immediately dispatch Lord Dun- more's armed schooner, which now awaits my com- mands, with an account of what your Excellency has done, and that I shall be ready, if practicable, to join your Lordship by the twentieth of April, at Alex- andria, where the troops under my command may for- tify themselves under my cover of the men of war on that station.
"If, on the contrary, your Excellency should not approve of what I propose, you will be good enough to immediately honor me with your dispatches to the Earl of Dunmore, that I may return as early as pos- sible.
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FRONTIER CONDITIONS
THE FRONTIERS, EARLY IN 1776
[Summary of conditions on the frontiers in the first months of 1776.]
The Virginia Convention met at Richmond Dec. 1, 1725, and adjourned to Williamsburgh, where ses- sions were held until January 20, 1776. The raising of troops occupied a large part of the time; arrangements were made to settle the accounts of Dunmore's War, and private claims to the fort at Pittsburgh were adjudicated.47
Meanwhile according to the reports of the trader, John Dodge,+$ the British commandant at Detroit was urging the Western Indians to war upon the American frontier settlements. Sometime in March, a French-
17 See minutes in Amer. Archives, 4th series, iv, pp. 75-112. The claims against the government for Fort Pitt grew out of the purchase made in 1772 by Alexander Ross and William Thompson of the buildings of the fort, when it was abandoned by the British garrison .- ED.
48 John Dodge was born in Connecticut about 1749. In 1770 he entered the Indian trade and settled in the Wyandot vil- lages on the Sandusky, where he acquired considerable in- fluence over the savages. Charged with leaning to the colon- ists' side, he was arrested in January, 1776, confined at Detroit, and finally sent a prisoner to Quebec, whence he escaped in 177S and made his way to Boston. He was received with cor- diality by Gates and Washington, and Congress noticed his case; granting him a compensation in land for his losses at Sandusky. Having visited Virginia he made the acquaint- ance of Jefferson, who appointed him Indian agent for the Illinois country. After his arrival in Kaskaskia, he became the leader of the military party in that county, and was ac- cused of peculation and arbitrary violence with the inhabit- ants. After 1782 he dominated the settlement, having seized and fortified a commanding site. In 1787 he removed to Ste. Genevieve on the Spanish side of the river and died in that vicinity in 1794. See C. W. Alvord, Cahokia Records (Spring- field, Ill., 1907), pp. xcv-cxx, xiv .- ED.
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man named Lorimier, 49 who had large influence with the Western Indians, left Montreal in company with two Englishmen to visit the upper country and secure adherents for the British.50
Reports of this activity on the part of the British gave great uneasiness to the Western settlers, now beginning to seek the rich cane-lands of Kentucky, and cultivating the Virginia valleys leading to the Ohio. Want of ammunition was one of the difficul- ties, and in May, George Gibson and William Linn led an expedition down the Ohio, in order to procure supplies of powder from New Orleans.51
49 Peter Lorimier (Laramie, Lorimie) was a French trader who about 1769 established a trading house on the west bank of the Great Miami, since called from his name Lorime's Creek. He was a prominent interpreter and Indian agent for the British during the Revolution and successive Indian wars. In 1778 he was one of the party that captured Daniel Boone. In 1782, Clark's expedition rifled his post, when he narrowly escaped personal capture. He remained in the British service until about 1793, when with a considerable band of Shawnee he removed across the Mississippi, and was appointed an offi- cer in the Spanish service .- ED.
60 Amer. Archives, 4th series, v, p. 417 .- ED.
61 For the result of this expedition see post, 1777.
George Gibson was a brother of John, being born in Lan- caster County, Pa., in 1747. Entering a mercantile house in Philadelphia, he made several voyages to the West Indies as supercargo. Early becoming interested in Western lands, he received a large patent on the Cumberland in 1768. At the outbreak of the Revolution he raised a company around Fort Pitt, where his battalion was known as "Gibson's Lambs," and reinforced the Virginia line. His venturesome expedition to New Orleans (1776-77) brought him promotion, and he joined Washington's army as colonel. serving in the Jersey campaigns. Retiring to his home in Cumberland County (Pa.) he became county lieutenant and in that capacity led out a regiment to re-inforce St. Clair, and was killed in the Indian battle of 1791.
Col. William Linn was born in Warren County, N. J., in 1734. In his youth he removed to western Maryland and took
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A COMMISSION
At Fort Pitt, Captain Neville was occupied with garrison duties and Indian negotiations. An expedi- tion against Detroit was considered by Congress, up- on the suggestion of Gen. Charles Lee, seconded by Washington ; but in the multitude of affairs the pro- ject was lost sight of, and because of insufficient means was dropped.52
A CAPTAIN'S COMMISSION
[Virginia Committee of Safety to William Harrod. 4NN27-D. S.]
The Committee of Safety for the Colony of Virginia.
To WILLIAM HARROD 3 GENTLEMAN-By Virtue of the Power and Authority invested in us, by the Dele-
active part in Forbes's campaign (1758), being wounded in McDonald's expedition of 1774. When George Gibson en- listed his rifle company (1775), Linn went with him as first lieutenant. He also joined Gibson's New Orleans expedition, performing the difficult exploit of bringing a considerable sup- ply of powder up the Mississippi and Ohio to Pittsburgh (see post). In 1777 he was out with Foreman's party, but by his sagacity escaped the massacre, bringing the news of the de- feat to Forts Shepherd and Henry. The next year, Linn joined George Rogers Clark's expedition, took part in the Kaskaskia campaign, and settled a station not far from Louisville. In 1780 he was colonel of militia in the Indian campaign of that year, but was shot and mortally wounded by Indians near his home, March 5, 1781 .- ED.
52 See Journals of the Continental Congress (Washington, 1906), iv, pp. 301, 318, 373; also Amer. Archives, 4th series, vi, p. 403; and Penna. Colon. Records, x, p. 525 .- ED.
53 For a brief sketch of William Harrod, see Dunmore's War, p. 68. note 14. The commission is issued on a printed form, the words here printed in Italics being written in the blank spaces. The signatures are autographs .- ED.
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gates and Representatives of the several Counties and Corporations in General Convention assembled, we, reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Patrio- tism, Fidelity, Courage, and good Conduct, do, by these Presents, constitute and appoint you to be Cap- tain of the Militia of the District of West Augusta; and you are therefore carefully and diligently to dis- charge the Trust reposed in you, by disciplining all Officers and Soldiers under your Command. And we do hereby require them to obey you, as their Captain. And you are to observe and follow all such Orders and Directions as you shall from Time to Time re- ceive from the Convention, the Committee of Safety for the Time . being, or any superior Officers, accord- ing to the Rules and Regulations established by the Convention.
Given under our Hands, at Williamsburgh this 7th Day of March Anno Domini 1776.
JOHN PAGE DUDLEY DIGGES P. CARRINGTON THOS LUD. LEE Jos. JONES THOMAS WALKER54
54 Members of the committee of safety, who were in charge of the executive department of the government until the elec- tion of Patrick Henry as first governor of the state of Vir- ginia, June 29, 1776. This committee consisted of eleven mem- bers, those in office at the time of this commission being chosen by the convention on Dec. 16, 1775. All had previously served on the committee, save Joseph Jones of King George County, and Thomas Walker, who replaced George Mason and Carter Braxton .- ED.
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AT DETROIT
INFORMATION REGARDING DETROIT
[Unsigned letter. 3U580.]
DETROIT 2d April 1776
Detroit is garrisoned by 120 Soldiers of the 8th. regt commanded by Capt Richard Berenger Ler- noult, 55 the soldiers seen indifferant about the pres- ent unhappy Disputes. An attack has been long sus- pected From Fort Pitt and Fasines prepared for De- fence of the Citadal. at present there is none sus- pected for this season. a Serjant and 12 men mounte guard in the town, and A Corporal and 4 men in the Citidal, half their number are centries. Supplies of amunition and provisions are received from canada By the way of Niagara. of the Former there is about a Tun of Powder, ball And Shott in proportion, of the Latter Sufficient to next August or Sept". The French are desirous of remaining neuter, there is no Noblesse among Them to stir them up. the English are in General well disposed, there is two Priest[s], one on the S E side of the river (a Jesuit Pere Poutie) the other In the Fort (a Recolet Pere Semple) 58
55 Henry Hamilton arrived as lieutenant-governor, Nov. 9, 1775; Lernoult was, however, in charge of the troops of the garrison until sometime in the summer of 1776 .- ED.
56 Père Pierre Potier was born in Belgium in 1708, entered the Jesuit order when twenty-one years of age, and came to America in 1743. After a year spent in studying the Huron language, he was sent to re-inforce the Huron mission at De- troit. This mission had been established at Pointe de Montreal (now Sandwich, Ont.) by Père de la Richardie. Upon the lat- ter's retirement, Potier became superior of the mission, minis- tering to both Huron converts and French habitants. During Pontiac's conspiracy, he is thought to have furnished useful information to the British garrison. As a philologist he ac- cumulated material on the Huron grammar, and left a con-
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The Millitia are Embodid, but not Deciplined or Exer. cised. their number is about 350 which includes all able To bear arms, their Capts are Piere Reaume Joseph Bundes, Jacque Campeau, Bapt Chapaten, 57 Phillip Dijean,"$ and James Sterling,59 their intention
siderable body of manuscripts-see Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, Ixix, 1xx. His death in 17SI was due to an accidental fall. Père Simple (Simplicus Bocquet) was priest of the church of St. Anne, 1754-84. This, the first church built at Detroit, was placed by its founders under the care of the Recollects, and was thus maintained until after the Revolution. Father Simple was at his post during Pontiac's conspiracy, and at the time of the Revolution was spoken of as an excellent, kind- hearted old man .- ED.
67 All these were prominent members of Detroit French fam- ilies. The first Pierre Reaume came with his brother Hya- cinthe to Detroit before 1726. Many descendants of both branches spread over the Northwest. Capt. Pierre Reaume was dismissed from the service before 1778, but continued to reside in Detroit some time thereafter.
Joseph Douaire de Bondy came to Detroit from Montreal about 1730. His son Joseph married at the former city in 1758, was still captain of militia in 1778, and was on the tax roll of 1799.
The Campeaus were a prominent Detroit family, whose pro- genitor came to that place as an armorer as early as 1710. Jacques Junior married in 1760 Catharine Ménard. He had resigned his captaincy by 1778, and Jean Baptiste Campeau had been appointed in his place.
The first Jean Baptiste Chapoton came to Detroit in 1718 as surgeon to the garrison. His son, born in 1721, was active in interceding with Pontiac in 1763. A petition of 1769 shows him as a prominent merchant. He resigned his captaincy be- fore 1778, and was freely accused of sympathy with the Amer- ican colonists .- ED.
58 Philip de Jean was probably born in France, coming to Detroit as merchant shortly before the English conquest. Be- coming a British subject he was appointed (1767) justice of the peace, and is said to have served the interests of the military
59 James Sterling came to America with the British forces during the French and Indian War, and served as commissary under Haldimand in 1759-60. At the close of the war he settled in Detroit, where he married into a French family,
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are To Remain neuter. The Savages are wavering, and divided, Frequent Councils have [been], and are held with them, By the commanding officer asisted By Jehu Hay Indian Agent at this place. they are desired to Opose Any Body of men that may penetrate into their Country. this is All that has transpired and it does not appear that any general Combination is Formed among them. There is two armed Schoon- ers On the Lake Bellonging to the Crown, mounting 12 Six pounders each, the Largest the General Gage is commanded by James Andrews,60 the other the Dunmore Is commanded by David Bolton, Besides these, there is two Schooners and two Sloops bellong- ing to Capt Alexdr who commands the whole Naval
commandants while acting in that capacity. In 1779 he was on his way to re-inforce Hamilton at Vincennes, when he was captured by a force sent out by George Rogers Clark, and with others sent a prisoner to Virginia. Having accepted a parole in October, 1779, he visited the Illinois, and was de- sirous of communicating with his family in Detroit. The con- duct of the British authorities exasperated De Jean. who re- solved to live no longer under English rule, whereupon he vis- ited France, and in 1786 was naval agent of that government at New London, Conn. The French Revolution involved him in serious financial difficulties, and having retired to the West Indies he died a prisoner on the island of Jamaica in 1795. These biographical details, derived from the Draper MSS., are believed to have been hitherto unpublished .- ED.
and became the chief merchant of the place. His knowledge of Indian languages gave him government employ as inter- preter, and his popularity with the French led to his being chosen militia captain. Later (1777), he was suspected of sympathy with the Americans, deprived of his office, and sent to Canada to give security for his conduct .- ED.
60 Capt. James Andrews was a lake captain in the North- west as early as 1773. He was highly recommended by Gov- ernor Hamilton in 1778, being promoted to command the ship- ping on Lake Ontario, an office which he held until his de- cease, late in 1780 or early in 1781 .- ED.
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Department, and one Sloop bellonging to Messrs. MITavish and McBeth61 William Rinhen [?] Com. mands one of the Sloops called the Angelica 62 the others are At present without Masters. To man the whole there is 30 Seamen and Servants, among that number are very few seamen and not one Gunner, they are generally disatisfied with the Service, and will make a poor resistance. The Vessels commands the Fort, which is only defended by a Stocade of Picquets about 9 Feet out of the earth, without Frize or ditch. The Picquets are mostly cedar, and gener- aly Sound. There is about 20 Boats at the place cap- able of car [rying] [Ms. torn] Barrels each, and boards Sufficent to build 60 more.
The armed Schooners are at Fort Erie63 ( an In-
61 Simon McTavish was one of the fur-traders who founded the North West Company. Coming early to the West, he was in 1782 enrolled as a citizen of Detroit. Later, he made his home in Montreal, directing the affairs of the fur-trade in so able but arbitrary a manner that he became known as "le Mar- quis." After founding a large fortune through what was es- sentially a trade monopoly, he died at Montreal in 1804.
George McBeath was likewise a Scotchman prominently identified with the Northwestern fur-trade. One of the found- ers of the North West Company, he operated largely in Wis- consin, with headquarters at Mackinac, making himself useful to the British commandants at the latter post. In 1783 he ac- companied Charles de Langlade to Prairie du Chien to hold a conference with the Indians and announce the Peace of Paris .- En.
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