JAMES DOUGHERTY Revolutionary War Soldier

By

David M. Dougherty

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved !2 Contents

1. Genealogy and Background ------4

2. Service in the ------10

3. The Quebec Expedition ------14

4. The Battle for Quebec ------27

5. A Prisoner of the British ------35

6. Back in the Continental Army ------39

7. ------43

8. ------46

9. . Commander-in-Chief’s Guard - - - - 48

10. Courthouse ------52

11. Operations Around New York City ------56

12. Detached Service in Pennsylvania ------57

13. Back With the Guard ------59

14. Civilian Life After the War ------63

Genealogy Chart ------66

Documents ------68

Notes ------77

Select Bibliography ------81

!3 !4 1. Genealogy and Background

James Dougherty was born in Antrim, either the town or county or both, Ulster Region, Ireland, on December 25, 1749. He immigrated to Pennsylvania shortly before the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, fought from 1775 to 1783, and died in Franklin, Venango County, PA, January 15, 1847. His parents were William O'Dougherty, born 1718 in Ulster and Susan McDevitt, born about 1722 in Ulster, and nothing is known about any possible siblings. No information is available on Susan McDevitt’s genealogy, but William’s parents were John O’Dougherty, born 1685, died 1743, and Sarah O’Neill, born 1686. John’s parents were John O’Dougherty and Sarah MacDonnell, and Sarah O’Neill’s father was Ambrose O’Neill. James came from a truculent Irish clan or tribe with a turbulent history that is worthy of examination. The O'Dougherty (O'Dochartaigh) clan inhabited the peninsula of Inishowen, at the extreme northern tip of Ireland. Irish history is clouded in myth, but their origins were Celtic, having emigrated either from Spain or Northern France. The Irish Celts disclaimed their Celtic origin, even though their language was clearly Goidelic, placing them with the northwestern Iberians in the Celtic Goidel cultural group. Traces of their Spanish origin can be seen in "Hibernia" from "Iberian" and from the earlier Scythians of Central Asia from their "Scotti" tribe that later immigrated to Scotland and gave that land its name. The Medieval Irish claimed classical and Greek origins, with a wandering myth like Moses seeking the promised land. The modern Celtic movements in Ireland feature a constructed heritage that would shock and surprise the old Irish. The first O'Dochartaigh appears in Irish genealogy in the ninth generation of descendants from Conall Gulban, a warrior prince, one of fourteen sons of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the High King of Ireland in the early 5th century, and Richnach, a name that simply means "queen." Conall was born about 390 CE, and is claimed by the O'Donnells, O'Boyles, O'Gallaghers, O'Dochartaighs and others as a common ancestor, while the O'Neills claim descent from Eoghan, another of Niall's sons. This genealogy is contained in the Book of Lecan (ca 1390), Laud 610 (ca 1004) and Rawlinson B.502 (ca 1120). It must be emphasized that Niall is only semi-historical, much like King Arthur. The most ancient location known to be inhabited by O'Dochartaighs, O'Doherty, O'Dougherty or other variants of the name is centered on Dunwiley in County Donegal southwest of Inishowen. First known as Clann Fiamhain, the O'Doughertys inhabited the Finn River Valley and the Lagan from 700 AD to about 1300 in the vicinity of Ballybofey and Stranorlar. The surname O'Dochartaigh was introduced in the 10th century, and the clan built a massive fortress known as Dun Mhaonghaile (the fort of Maonghal) above the principal ford of the Finn River in the

!5 region of Tir Eanna for protection against their arch-enemies, the O'Neills. In the 14th century the clan migrated to Inishowen under pressure from the O'Neills and the O'Donnells. Inishowen is not a particularly fertile area and the excessive rainfall, cold and uncertain climate make the peninsula unfavorable for agriculture and habitation. To add to their problems, the O'Doughertys were forced to defend themselves against the much larger clans of O'Neill and O'Donnell who sought to dominate the O'Doughertys. Semi-continuous warfare between the O'Doughertys and their more numerous neighbors was the norm from 1300 CE until the seizure of County Tyrone by Elizabeth I and the demise of O'Neill power. That the O'Doughertys maintained their land and independence was a reflection of their martial prowess. Much of this warfare was initiated by either the O'Donnells or the O'Neills as they fought over the overlordship of Inishowen and the O'Doughertys. O'Dougherty chieftains were frequently taken hostage by one side or the other and O'Dougherty land plundered and burned. In 1512 the O'Neills were decisively defeated by the O'Donnells and were forced to relinquish their claims to Inishowen and issue a charter to the O'Donnells. The O'Neills did not give up, however, and were defeated again by the O'Donnells in 1522. The war continued, and in 1531 the O'Donnells gave assurances of allegiance to the English in return for military assistance. In 1537, the O'Donnells and O'Neills made common cause with the O'Briens against the English and were decisively defeated in Monaghan. Still not quitting their drive for power, the O'Neills submitted to King Henry VIII in 1543 in an attempt to regain Inishowen. Their plan did not work as Henry continued to play off the O'Neills against the O'Donnells to strengthen his position, and warfare between the tribes continued. The O'Dougherty tribe was involved in negotiations with the French beginning as early as 1544 along with the O'Donnells and O'Neills to resist the English, and in 1550 even met with a French delegation sent to Inishowen. The reign of Mary Tudor temporarily brought an end to English expansion in Ireland and French machinations, but after Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558 Ulster went into convulsions. Seeking to divide and conquer, Elizabeth sought an alliance with the O'Doughertys to secure Inishowen and the town of Derry in defiance of O'Neill and O'Donnell power. Under the chieftain Sean Og O'Dogherty, the O'Doughertys became allies with the English, and many if not most converted to Protestantism as the alliance worked to their advantage from 1560 and 1607. Although England had attempted to dominate Ireland from the time of Richard (Strongbow) FitzGilbert de Clare, the colonization that began under Elizabeth I in Ulster radically altered the O'Doughertys' political position. The O'Neills and O'Donnells were repeatedly defeated as they rebelled against Elizabeth and later against James I after Elizabeth's death in 1603, but this time the O'Doughertys fought on the winning side. In 1601, Sean died and his son Cahir (Charles) was taken under the protection of Sir Henry Docwra, the English governor of Derry. Cahir grew up to become chieftain of the O'Doughertys

!6 under Sir Henry, and fought side by side with him against the O'Neills and O'Donnells. As a reward for his loyalty and martial prowess, Cahir was knighted by the English. After the replacement of Sir Henry Docwra by Sir George Paulett as governor of Derry in 1606, Cahir turned his back on the English and began plotting a rebellion. The reasons for his abrupt turnabout are obscure to this day. He was pledged support by the O'Donnell chieftain, Rory, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, but when Rory and Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone fled Ireland in 1607 for the continent in what became known derisively as “the flight of the earls”, young Cahir stood alone to face the English. Undaunted by the O'Donnell and O’Neill desertions, Cahir opened his rebellion against the English in 1608 with some success, capturing and burning the town of Derry. The English responded in great force, captured Cahir, and killed a large number of his followers. Cahir was executed by hanging, and the O'Dougherty clan was not permitted to elect another chieftain. To the current day, the O'Dougherty clan is the only one in Ireland that is not allowed to have a chieftain. Following the "flight of the earls" and the O'Dougherty revolt, the English confiscated all O'Neill estates and began a serious campaign to drive the Catholic Irish from Ulster. The town of Derry was acquired by the City of London for colonization, re-chartered as Londonderry and repopulated in the main by Presbyterian Scots from the western Scottish lowlands. By 1518 Londonderry had become strongly fortified and the principal stronghold of the Scotch-Irish Protestants in the western part of Ulster. Most of the now Protestant O'Doughertys moved eastward into Londonderry, Tyrone, Antrim and other provinces of Ulster, mixing with the Scots and adopting Presbyterianism. Unbeknownst to these O'Doughertys at the time, the Presbyterians were on a collision course with the established High Anglican Church that caused the Presbyterian O'Doughertys later to be more severely repressed by the English than their Catholic cousins. The O'Doughertys left in Inishowen were more fortunate than those in Antrim as many had remained Catholic during the religious wars or had converted back after Cahir O'Dogherty's execution. These Scots who immigrated to Ulster under Elizabeth and James I were almost exclusively Calvinist/Presbyterian lowland Scots called Covenanters, followers of John Knox. Under James I, the Scottish Presbyterian tenants were permitted to have Irish sub-tenants paying twice as much as the already high rents. The land in Ulster was more fertile than on Inishowen, however, and many of the O'Doughertys were able to prosper through hard work. Religious persecution continued unabated as Covenanter ministers were not allowed to officiate at marriages nor could Covenanters hold public office or be active in certain professions. Even more unfortunately, their situation soon became grimmer under Charles I. Charles introduced economic measures in the Ulster Plantation that tended to reduce both the Irish and Scottish tenants to poverty. When the Parliamentarian revolt came, the Covenanters and O'Doughertys initially took the side of the Parliament. They suffered dramatically in the "Irish Massacres" of Protestant men, women and children by Irish Catholics in 1641. Sir William Petty, in

!7 his “Political Arithmetic of Ireland” stated that 500,000 Protestants were killed, but the actual number was more likely somewhat over 30,000. Irish Protestants seized any real or apparent opportunity to protect their religion, and many joined Ormonde’s Royalist army when he promised to respect their religion and its practice. During Oliver Cromwell’s Irish campaign they supported Cromwell, but the execution of Charles I caused the Presbyterians to protest. John Milton was commissioned to make a suitable reply and Cromwell demanded the Presbyterians sign the “Engagement” oath. Presbyterian ministers refused to sign the oath, and Cromwell began persecutions and threatened to banish the Presbyterian leaders. He soon saw the error of his ways, however, ceased the persecutions but did not reward his O’Dougherty allies or Irish Presbyterians and Non-Conformists in general. As a result, Irish Presbyterians supported the return of Charles II after he promised to respect their religion and give them rights equal to those enjoyed by Episcopalians. Upon the restoration of the monarchy Charles showed himself to be a closet Catholic, established the primacy of High Anglicanism and declared the Covenant illegal. A second Act of Uniformity was enacted, but Charles allowed Irish Catholics to be exempted and the repression fell mainly on Non- Conformists and Presbyterians. Facing what seemed to be perpetual persecution by the English, some O'Doughertys reverted to Catholicism and moved back into Inishowen. The Protestant O'Doughertys remaining in Ulster were treated as third class citizens in their own land by the English (Catholics were second class), and further persecuted by the Test Act of 1673 (requiring the swearing of allegiance to the High Anglican Church to be eligible for public office and other activities) and several following laws. All this religious oppression caused some of the Protestant O’Doughertys to begin leaving for the American Colonies. In the "Glorious Revolution" of William and Mary in 1688, the Protestant O'Doughertys and other Ulstermen heavily supported William, continuing the never-ending fight with the Catholic Irish and hoping to receive recognition and freedom of religion. Protestant O'Doughertys were prominent in the defense of Londonderry against Catholic assaults and many fought at the Battle of the Boyne. One might question why they supported the English while being oppressed by the English Anglican hierarchy officially and unofficially, but their hatred of Popery and Roman Catholicism trumped all other considerations. In the event, their rewards would prove temporary at best. Following the successful defense of Londonderry in 1688 the English granted the O'Doughertys and other Ulster Protestants -- by now almost exclusively Presbyterian -- a certain amount of religious tolerance (but not freedom.) Rents were held low to attract tenants to devastated lands, but this situation lasted only while it was advantageous to the English landowners. In the beginning of the 1700s everything changed again for the worse. Marriages certified by Presbyterian ministers were declared invalid, Presbyterians were outlawed from teaching in schools, and Queen Anne restored the Test Act for all office-holders.

!8 Emigration from Ulster to America began in earnest in 1718, and a series of natural calamities throughout the 18th century hastened departures for colonies that promised the availability of land and religious freedom. In Ulster the O’Doughertys were overwhelmingly tenant farmers, paying rents to English landlords and living barely above the poverty level at best. They joined what became known as the “Scotch-Irish” people and their movement to America, leaving Ireland mostly from Belfast, but also Dublin, Londonderry, and other ports in the British Isles. Some were able to pay for their passage on merchant vessels in “steerage” where the conditions were abysmal, but many agreed to indentured servant contracts which reduced them to a type of slave status for a fixed length of time in America. In the 1760s Lord Donegall raised rents to exorbitant amounts in Antrim, and evictions took place in great numbers. Estimates vary on the volume of emigration, but one historian estimated that between 1730 and 1770, 500,000 Scotch-Irish emigrated from Ulster, another source from 1774 listed 43,720 emigrants as sailing from Ulster ports in that year alone, and still another estimated over 30,000 emigrants per year in the two years following the Antrim evictions. Modern academics eager to promote “diversity” in support of the generally lower the overall estimate to 250,000 prior to 1775 and also tend to marginalize the Scotch-Irish as only settling Western Pennsylvania. In reality the Scotch-Irish settled the frontier from Maine to Georgia as well as extensively populating more settled regions like Maryland and . During the upheaval before the “Glorious Revolution” James's family had moved to Antrim, a county on the eastern side of Ulster, some fifty miles from the traditional homeland of Inishowen. Both his father and mother were born in Ulster, and his mother, Susan McDevitt, came from a Scottish background—a somewhat unusual situation as usually Covenanter males married Irish women rather than the other way around. His wife, Jane Lawson, was also of Scottish heritage and was born in Ulster about 1756. James and Jane married in Ulster about 1771 when Jane was only fifteen and James twenty- two. James, their first-born (or first surviving child), was possibly born in Ulster shortly before their departure for the colonies although it is more likely James Junior’s birth date and place is 1775 in Lancaster, PA. The youngster would have later three brothers and one sister, all born in Pennsylvania. As good Presbyterians, James and Jane dropped the "O'" in favor of the Anglicized "Dougherty” although “O’Dougherty” continued to be favored by Catholics in Inishowen. Other variations on the name are Daugherty, Dogherty, Doherty and Daughtery, all of which are essentially the same name. As there are a number of Catholics in the U.S. with all of the above variations, there is no way to tell a Protestant from a Catholic by the spelling of their name. Although it is not known exactly when James and Jane arrived in the American colonies (a search of passenger lists is incomplete), apparently they were part of the heavy surge in Scotch- Irish emigration from Northern Ireland that took place following the Antrim evictions, and they may have suffered eviction from their rented property themselves. It could also have been the case

!9 that they immediately began to plan their emigration to America upon becoming married. Most probably they arrived in the colonies either during 1774 or early 1775, but at any rate, they established residence in Lancaster County by the spring of 1775, just in time to take part in the American Revolution. At that point James was twenty-six years old while Jane was only nineteen. Although it is possible that James or his family had saved enough money to pay for their passage from Belfast, it is much more likely that they came over as indentured servants or under contract. About half of the Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania had arrived as indentured servants, and with James and Jane both being very young and illiterate, the chances of their being indentured are very high. Usually passage was arranged through their Presbyterian pastor, often in concert with a Presbyterian pastor or congregation in America to place the immigrants in a good Presbyterian household. Such would seem to be indicated in the situation of James and his family as they immediately moved to an area dominated by Presbyterian Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania. In addition, James apparently had no qualms about leaving his young wife and son in a strange land with friends or their employer—the person or family that had paid for their passage. The passage in the 1770s generally cost six pounds per person with children below a certain age being free. If their passage had been paid by others, James and Jane would have been expected to work off the cost of their passage by agreeing to essentially the life of slaves for a certain period of time. During that time the wife would be expected to have no further children to burden the proprietor’s household, and indeed, James and Jane had no further children until 1786, beyond the period normally fixed for an indenture. Finally, there is one last piece of evidence that indicates their indentured status –- that of James’ enlistment in the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment. It was a common practice for household masters enlisting one of their servants or slaves as a substitute for themselves in the Continental Army. James probably would have been eager to serve in this capacity, especially since his indenture would be satisfied by two years of army service according to a decree by the . That would also account for his immediate re-enlistment following his return from Quebec on parole since he needed more time of service to satisfy his indenture. After returning home in 1783 James probably would have been able to purchase the remaining time on Jane’s indenture, if any remained. In any event, the family moved up the Susquehanna River Valley shortly after James’ return and joined a new Presbyterian parish, starting a new life together on their own. It must be emphasized that Scotch-Irish life revolved around their Presbyterian parish church more than any secular government, particularly on the frontier. Presbyterian churches were often built and congregations established long before townships and counties were marked out. Parishes were governed by pastors in spiritual matters, and by the elected lay elders of the church in temporal affairs. The governing body, called a session, was made up of the minister and the elders of the church. The sessions adjudicated conflicts between members, ruled on guilt or innocence for common offenses, and even doled out punishment. James and his family would have been guided

!10 by their session in their adopted country, and their indentures would also have been subject to the session’s approval. That made their indentures far more palatable than those in the Anglican areas where indentured servants were treated like slaves, subject to whippings and extensions of their indenture period for punishment, and subject to laws governing the conduct of slavery for both whites and blacks. In the Scotch-Irish communities on the frontier, indentures were administered much more fairly and without the stigma attached to white slaves and indentured servants in the Anglican tidewater plantations of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

!11

2. Service in the Continental Army

The American Revolution broke out in April, 1775, and James enlisted in Captain Matthew Smith's Company, 1st Pennsylvania (Rifle) Regiment under the command of Colonel William Thompson. His period of enlistment was recorded as six years, probably to satisfy his indenture as a substitute for his proprietor. On June 25, 1775, James was mustered in on the regiment's rolls and began to outfit himself and undergo two weeks of light training. On July 15, James’ company left Lancaster and he said goodbye to his young bride and infant son. On July 17, the company reached Reading, the county seat of Berks County, where it joined with the companies of Captains Hendricks, Paterson, Lowden and Noggle. Supplies were gathered there for the march to Cambridge, Massachusetts. No more than three weeks of training took place in Pennsylvania and the shakedown of the companies undoubtedly took place on the march. The men were full of confidence in their ability to defeat the finest army in the world at that time, apparently because of the strength of their cause and their experiences in fighting the Indians in Pennsylvania from the days of their arrival in the colonies or their childhood if born in Pennsylvania. James, however, had no such experience. Captain Matthew Smith was of Scotch-Irish heritage like James, but born 1740 in Paxtang, Pennsylvania. He was known as a big talker and his military experience was limited to fighting Indians on the frontier – a common occurrence in the Susquehanna Valley. In 1763 he was one of the leaders of a group of young Scotch-Irish settlers called "The Paxton Boys" who massacred six peaceful Conestoga Indians at their settlement and another fourteen Conestoga Indians in the Lancaster Workhouse. The Paxton Boys came from the Paxtang Presbyterian Church in Paxtang (now a suburb of Harrisburg) and have been greatly vilified in history by writers such as Francis Parkman. Although there may be no excuse for killing women and children, the Paxton Boys were reacting against all Indians for the continual murder and torture of white settlers, including women and children, among their brethren. Almost all of the Scotch-Irish settlers in central Pennsylvania had relatives or friends who had died at the hands of the Indians, and they were in no mood to be merciful. Apparently Smith did not take part in the first massacre, and the evidence is contradictory with respect to the second. However, Smith marched on where Quakers were protecting a group of Moravian Indians who were accused of aid and abetting the attacks on settlers and entered into a war of words. Under fire from Quakers in the eastern counties who were shielded from the Indians by the Scotch-Irish, Smith co-authored a "Grand Remonstrance" on behalf of the counties of Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Berks and Northampton to Governor Penn and the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1764. He recited the grievances of The Paxton Boys in the spirit of the

!12 later Declaration of Independence and the first Pennsylvania State Constitution, and no action was ever taken against the Paxton Boys. Smith later resigned his commission in December, 1776, when he was passed over for promotion, then accepted the rank of major in the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment back-dated to September 1776, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in February, 1777, but resigned again in February, 1778, taking the rank of Colonel in the Pennsylvania Militia until 1780. He died in Milton, Pennsylvania, in 1794. A modern reader might wonder why a recent immigrant would enlist so readily to fight for his adopted country, even if it did satisfy his indenture contract, but it must be remembered that the Doughertys and Scotch-Irish possessed a long list of grievances against the English. James may even have been a member of the "Hearts of Steel", a Scotch-Irish secret society in Ulster that fought against the Antrim evictions. Following the group's unsuccessful petition for redress to the English Viceroy in 1772, most, if not all, of the “Hearts Of Steel” membership emigrated to America and very shortly afterwards took up arms against the British tyranny. Also surprising is that James enlisted in a rifle regiment supposedly composed of experienced frontier fighters. This could not have described James under any circumstances. At best he had been a farmer in Ulster, and quite possibly had not even taken up farming in Pennsylvania by the time he enlisted. Over the next eight years James would spend less than four months at home, and if his wife was not an indentured servant, then she would have had to attach herself to another household to survive with her baby. Historians differ in their estimates of Scotch-Irish participation in the war, but clearly the Scotch-Irish were the dominant group to provide manpower to state militias and the Continental Army. One historian estimated that one-third of the troops were Scotch-Irish, but both Joseph Galloway and the British General Robertson reported to the English Parliament during the war that half of the American Army was comprised of Presbyterian Irish. A number of British officers claimed the rebellion was nothing but a Presbyterian revolt, Horace Walpole jibed that "our American cousin has run away with a Scotch-Irish parson," and Washington himself repeatedly stated that Scotch-Irish soldiers were the backbone of his army. All in all, the estimates of American troops who were of Scotch-Irish extraction range from thirty to seventy percent depending on the army in question, but in any case, the most reliable troops were overwhelmingly Scotch-Irish. The majority of the was Scotch-Irish, and James must have felt at home with his Ulster compatriots. Even the majority of the most frequent names of Continental soldiers were Scotch-Irish, and Dougherty is listed in 9th position, a substantial increase over its ranking as the 15th most common name in Ireland. Three Doughertys were members of Washington's Lifeguard, also known as the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, a unit James joined at Valley Forge. The 1st Pennsylvania Regiment was also known as Thompson's Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment and later became the 1st Continental Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line. It was raised by Colonel William Thompson, a Scotch-Irishman living in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a veteran of

!13 the as a captain. The Continental Congress passed resolutions on June 14, 1775 and June 22, 1775, authorizing nine companies of expert riflemen. Most or all of the Captains were Scotch-Irish like Matthew Smith and William Hendricks, Captain of the Cumberland Company. The enlisted men of the first seven companies were almost exclusively Scotch-Irish and Presbyterian. Doctor James Thatcher, in his "Military Journal of the American Revolution" (Hartford, CT: Hurlbut, Williams & Co), described the riflemen thusly: "They are remarkably stout and hardy men, many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white frocks or rifle shirts and round hats. The men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim; striking a mark with great certainty at two hundred yards distance." Privates like James were to be paid six and one-half dollars per month and were required to furnish their own clothes, arms and accessories. James undoubtedly purchased his rifle from one of the Lancaster gun makers at his own expense or it was furnished by his proprietor. Lancaster is generally held to be the birthplace of the Kentucky Rifle, and the Lancaster rifles made before the Revolutionary War were the forerunners of the Kentucky Rifle of frontier fame. They looked very similar to the later flintlock Kentucky rifles but featured a heavier stock without a substantial drop to the butt. Most importantly, the muzzle was flared very slightly and as such could not be fitted with a bayonet. The patchbox was not as ornate as in later models, but by the twentieth century the Pennsylvania rifles were often included in the Kentucky rifle category. The march from Pennsylvania to Cambridge, Massachusetts was extremely rapid for the times. Captain William Hendricks’ journal, which was probably kept by Sergeant McCoy, Hendricks’ company clerk, describes it thusly:

July 22: Departed from Reading, Pennsylvania and marched 18 miles to Swan’s Tavern. July 23: Marched 18 miles to Allen’s Town (Allentown.) July 24: Marched through Bethlehem across the Jordan and Lehigh Rivers 18 miles to Easton. July 25: Crossed the Delaware River and marched 13 miles to Oxford Meeting House, New Jersey. July 26: Tarred and feathered a Tory who refused to acknowledge the authority of the Continental Congress. July 27: Marched 10 miles to Sussex Court House. July 28: Marched 23 miles to Dr. Hinksman’s. July 29: Marched 22 miles to Brewster’s Tavern, New York. July 30: Marched 11 miles to New Windsor on the Hudson River. July 31: Rested in New Windsor, washed linens, repaired clothing and equipment. August 1: Crossed the Hudson River, marched 27 miles to Tarkin’s. August 2: Marched 25 miles to Baker’s Tavern, Connecticut.

!14 August 3: Marched through Litchfield, tarred and feathered another Tory, drummed him out of town and continued on 29 miles to (illegible) Tavern. August 4: Arrived at Hartford after marching 22 miles. The town featured seven very elegant Presbyterian parish churches and was pleasantly situated on the Connecticut River. (Note: Hartford had a large Scotch-Irish population.) August 5: Crossed the Connecticut River and marched 29 miles to Tunis. August 6: Marched 28 miles to Mr. Thomson’s Meeting House. August 7: Marched 21 miles to Mendon, Massachusetts. August 8: Marched 23 miles to Mr. Ellis’s Tavern. August 9: Arrived at Cambridge, four miles from .

James' regiment remained at Cambridge until September 11th and took part in the under General . Washington called for a review of the riflemen, and a demonstration of their marksmanship. A series of small targets seven inches in diameter were set up at a distance of 250 yards. At the beat of a drum the riflemen charged the targets, firing on the run. To the amazement of the rest of the army, most of the shots found their targets. Not everyone was thrilled with the riflemen, as their rate of fire was much slower than soldiers armed with muskets and they showed a marked tendency to prefer Indian tactics instead of the current European line of battle formations. Washington found the Pennsylvania riflemen to be difficult to control and unruly when not fully employed. They never became fully acclimated to camp life, and rivalries readily arose between the riflemen and the regular companies armed with muskets. The only combat action James participated in during the siege of Boston occurred on September 3rd. About 1,000 American troops including James’ company erected a battery on Plowed Hill, about a quarter of a mile from the enemy on Bunker’s Hill. During the time the men worked on the emplacement they were constantly under fire from artillery on Bunker’s Hill and a floating battery in the bay. Several soldiers were killed and a number wounded, including William Simpson, a gentleman volunteer in James’ company who died after his leg was amputated. Success crowned their efforts as artillery mounted in the new redoubt sank the British floating battery and forced the soldiers on Bunker’s Hill to remain under cover when not on guard. James’ first recorded action in his military record came as a participant in Colonel 's expedition to capture Quebec, Canada. This would cause James to become a prisoner of war and ultimately a proscribed individual subject to immediate execution by the British if captured. James indeed risked everything for his adopted country.

!15 3. The Quebec Expedition

The only strategic plan formulated by the patriots at the beginning of the war in addition to driving the British from Boston was to invade Canada, expel the British occupying forces and bring Canada into the Continental Congress as the 14th colony. Even before the Battle of Lexington took place, Canada had been invited to send delegates to the . Having Canada included in the rebellion would provide a united front against England and secure the colonists' rear from British-supported Indian attacks. Early contacts by patriots indicated considerable sympathy in support of liberty in Canada, especially in the area around Montreal. After all, the colony had been taken from the French by Wolfe and Amherst in 1759, and there were few British troops on the St. Lawrence. Most Canadians were French farmers who were though to still be antagonistic towards their recent conquerors or at least relatively indifferent to British or American interests. It was thought by the leaders in Congress that the Canadians would only require a slight push from their southern neighbors for them to throw off their putative chains. The initial concept of the Canadian invasion was developed in Congress and General was directed to attack north through Lake Champlain to St John’s and Montreal. General Washington then authored or supported a plan to eradicate the British presence in Canada by adding a second expedition, under the command of Colonel Benedict Arnold. Arnold’s force would travel up the Kennebec River in Maine, through the northern wilderness to the Chaudiere River and downstream to the Saint Lawrence and Quebec. Washington personally selected Arnold and gave the plan a high chance of success. In many respects the plan was sound, incorporating the elements of surprise and superior force against an unprepared and dispersed enemy. The Lake Champlain route was well known and traveled, and the British were likely to concentrate their efforts at Montreal to ward off the Americans under General who had replaced Schuyler. While General Carleton, the British Governor, attended to Montgomery’s threat against Montreal, Arnold would fall on his rear, capture a lightly-held Quebec and cut the British off from support from England. At least that was the plan. Success depended on Arnold’s reaching Quebec without the British being forewarned of his approach from the Chaudiere. Unfortunately, there were three problems with the Canadian invasion that were unknown or went unrecognized at the time. The first was that Arnold's route through the Maine wilderness was highly speculative and had been traveled only by a few bands of Indians and trappers. The scanty information available was grossly inaccurate, and guides were nonexistent. Both the distances and traveling difficulties were substantially understated, and the sparse population in the Kennebec River Valley could not support an expedition with supplies or boats.

!16 A very optimistic view of the route was contained in Washington's letter to the Continental Congress on September 21, 1775, which outlined the route as expected (original spelling and grammar by Washington): "From the mouth of the Kennebeck River to Quebeck, on a straight line is 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 Jaconick (Ticonic or Taconic) Falls, and from Jaconick Falls to Norridgewock, as the river runs, is 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 the Kennebeck River, called the Dead River, then up that river as it runs thirty miles, some small falls and short carrying places intervening; then you come to the Height of Land (a pass) and about six miles carrying places, into a branch which leads into Ammeguntick Pond (Lake Megantic), the head of Chaudiere River, which falls into the St. Lawrence about four miles above Quebeck." This description, based on the best available information at the time, shortened the length of the Dead River by fifty miles and substantially underestimated the length of the carrying places. Even worse, it totally failed to anticipate the wildness of the Chaudiere, the problems in handling boats up waterways little more than bogs and creeks, and the density of the wilderness between the Kennebec and Chaudiere Rivers. The second problem was that the Provincial Congress, in its broadside to the people of Great Britain in September, 1774, had inveighed against French Jurisprudence and Roman Catholicism in no uncertain terms. This document alienated most of the French-Canadian Roman Catholic clergy who then lectured their flocks from the pulpit against the heresies of the thirteen Protestant colonies. The mass of French farmers followed their clergy, preferring a distant tyrant who courted Catholic support with toleration instead of tyrannical neighbors who might impose their militant Presbyterianism and Calvinism on Canada. Imbued by its own righteousness and not understanding that Roman Catholicism's authoritarian structure supported monarchical government, Congress overlooked this development in Canada and expected the French Canadians at the very least not to oppose the patriot cause and forces of liberty. The reality was that the vast majority of Canadians rallied to Governor Carleton and King George the Third. The third problem reflected American shortsightedness. Assuming that the British could be expelled from Canada by an American expedition, there would be no possibility of defending Quebec and Montreal when confronted by a strong British force backed up by British sea power. The Royal Navy was the greatest sea power in the world at the time and essentially invincible when able to invest a port city. Washington would discover this fact to his great distress in 1776 when he attempted to hold New York against the Howe brothers and again in 1779 when Sir Henry Clinton

!17 captured Charlestown. The St. Lawrence estuary provided the deep water access needed by the British, and unless opposed by a strong patriot navy including numerous ships of the line to meet the Royal Navy on a ship-to-ship basis, a resolute English commander could easily retake and hold Canada against subsequent invasions. Nonetheless, the Quebec expedition was the greatest long-distance strategic effort conducted by American forces until Washington's march to Yorktown in 1783. Only 's expedition to Illinois and Vincennes, Indiana, came anywhere close to Arnold's in distance and hardship. In that campaign Clark confronted the English with less disparity in numbers than Arnold and was rewarded with success. Had Arnold succeeded like Clark, no doubt history would have treated both George Washington and himself as great military leaders and strategists at the beginning of the war, and his betrayal might never have occurred. The Quebec campaign itself receded rapidly into the footnotes of history, not only because it was a total failure and all Arnold’s efforts paled in comparison with his later treachery, but also because so few participants told its story in sufficient detail for future generations. Officers who returned such as , Aaron Burr and Henry Dearborn went on to distinguished accomplishments and tended to ignore the disastrous Quebec campaign, while many of the common soldiers who survived either were enfeebled by the ordeal and died soon after release or re-enlisted and perished later in the war. Less than thirty percent of the original expeditionary force reached Quebec and returned to American soil and by 1783 probably only ten percent was left to tell the tale. Altogether about 1,050 men were assigned to Arnold’s expedition. He organized his army into four divisions: the 1st Division of almost 230 men in three rifle companies under Captain Daniel Morgan (eventually); the 2nd with 240 New England soldiers under Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Greene; the 3rd with 280 men under Major Return J. Meigs; and the 4th with 300 under Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Enos. All of the companies except those in the 1st Division were armed with muskets furnished by state arsenals or the men themselves. Few soldiers, if any, possessed bayonets. The 1st Division was composed of Captains Matthew Smith's and William Hendricks' Pennsylvania riflemen and Morgan's own from Virginia. The 2nd had three musket companies from Rhode Island under Captains Simeon Thayer (a former member of "Rogers' Rangers"), John Topham and Jonas Hubbard. Greene's second-in-command was Major Timothy Bigelow, after whom the mountain along the Dead River was later named. The 3rd was made up of the Connecticut musket company of Captain Henry Dearborn and the Massachusetts musket companies of Samuel Ward, Oliver Hanchett and William Goodrich. Captain Dearborn was a Scotch-Irishman and veteran of Bunker Hill who performed well in the Revolutionary War, most notably at the battle of Freeman's Farm (Saratoga.) He later became a physician, Secretary of War under Jefferson, Major- General and Commander-in-Chief of the US Army in 1813, but resigned shortly thereafter at the

!18 age of 62 due to lackluster performance in his Ontario Campaign. The 4th contained the Massachusetts and New Hampshire musket companies of Captains Thomas Williams, Samuel McCobb, and William Scott. Rueben Colburn's twenty-man company of artificers/carpenters also marched with Colonel Enos. Washington had asked for three rifle companies, and when all the rifle companies in Cambridge volunteered for the expedition, their captains had to draw lots to determine which ones would go. On September 5, 1775, the drawing was held, and the winners included the two Pennsylvania companies under Smith and Hendricks and the Virginia Company under Morgan. The Pennsylvania companies were to be composed of 12 officers, 68 privates and a musician according to their establishing congressional resolution, but muster rolls recorded in the Pennsylvania archives indicated that Hendricks had 85 and Smith 80 in their companies. These numbers were similar to Morgan’s Virginians who mustered 85. Although all the riflemen were supposed to be experienced woodsmen, many of the Pennsylvania companies (and approximately 250 of the entire force) were recent Scotch-Irish immigrants like James, born in Northern Ireland and intent upon securing their freedom from British oppression. Men like James were certainly willing enough to undergo hardship and privation, but they were completely untrained for European-style warfare, possessed little experience in fighting Indians and knew nothing about handling boats. Some of the earlier immigrants like Matthew Smith were experienced in fighting Indians, but only from the perspective of militia and not regular troops. There was much to be learned by all. The entire expedition was made up of very young men, of which the officers were no exception. Arnold was only thirty-four, Smith thirty-five, Dearborn twenty-four, Burr only nineteen and Hendricks in his late twenties. The oldest was Colonel Enos at forty-four, the only officer over forty, and he would prove to be the weakest of the commanders in spite of his earlier service in the . Most of the enlisted men were in their late teens or early twenties, and to a large degree, it was their youthful enthusiasm that enabled them to surmount situations that would have destroyed older and wiser individuals. Neither the officers nor the enlisted men were prepared for the rigors of a Canadian winter. Most of the Pennsylvania riflemen wore modified Indian attire with flannel shirts, cloth or buckskin breeches, buckskin leggings, moccasins, a hunting shirt of brown linsey or linsey-wolsey gathered at the waist by a leather belt and round caps. They carried long knives or tomahawks in addition to their long rifles. Colonel Morgan was noted for wearing a breechclout and leaving his thighs exposed. The other soldiers dressed in standard colonial clothes; low-cut shoes, knee-length britches, woolen shirts, medium-length jackets, and three-cornered or wide-brimmed hats. Some of the New Englanders possessed blankets and heavy coats, but compared to modern standards, all of the men were poorly clad for a winter campaign. Boots were unknown, and none of their clothing

!19 was waterproof. In addition, leather tended to become stiff and brittle in the wet and cold, and was often ruined by repeated dryings around campfires. Washington and Arnold had discussed the matter of boats and provisions several times during August with a resident of the Kennebec Valley, Reuben Colburn, and on September 3, 1775, Colburn received a contract to construct two hundred bateaux (flat-bottomed boats) for Arnold's expedition. Colburn engaged twenty carpenters in his shipyard at what is now Pittston, Maine, immediately below Agry's Point on the Kennebec River about two miles from Gardiner. Somehow Colburn finished the bateaux just in time to greet the expedition when it arrived two weeks later. This was a remarkable achievement but one destined to cause untold hardship. There was no opportunity to dry or season the wood, and the boats built of green yellow pine, proved to be heavy, leaky, and almost unmanageable. Colburn also procured all the pork, beef and flour available on the river for the expedition, and although he has been vilified by historians for the inadequate bateaux, it is difficult to see how he could have done better under the circumstances. He marched with the expedition and endured the same hardships of the troops so it can hardly be said that he was a profiteer. At any rate, Colburn was still owed about 370 pounds sterling on his contract or over 70% of the total by the US Government in 1824. On the eleventh of September, 1775, the two Pennsylvania rifle companies marched out from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and headed for Newburyport on the Merrimac River, the collecting point for the expedition. They reached the Merrimac on the 13th, and were the first companies to arrive. James and the other men itched to be off for Maine, but they were forced to wait a week for the army to assemble. Considering themselves to be elite troops (without having seen battle), they would spearhead the expedition along with the company from Virginia under Daniel Morgan. Another private in James' company, John Joseph Henry, produced the most vivid account of the expedition. He dictated his account to a daughter before his death in 1811, and it was published as a book under the daunting title, "Account of Arnold's Campaign, Against Quebec and the Hardships and Sufferings of that Band of Heroes who Traversed the Wilderness of Maine from Cambridge to the St. Lawrence, in the Autumn of 1775." It can be safely assumed that Henry's experiences were the same or similar to James Dougherty's, especially since they were assigned to the same bateaux crew. All in all, the men experienced hardship and privation almost beyond human endurance and not to be repeated until Napoleon's retreat from Moscow or the German Army's suffering during the winter of 1941-42 in Russia. Even worse, by the twenty-first century Arnold's and James' saga would disappear from American education as no longer fitting the American image actively promoted by its ruling elite under the concept of “political correctness.” Arnold's army sailed from Newburyport on the Merrimac on Tuesday, September 19, 1775, and reached the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine on the 20th. By the 22nd all of the expedition’s contingents had reached Gardiner on the Kennebec. The name Gardiner was later changed to Pittston since Mr. Gardiner was a loyalist. Here Arnold received the bateaux that had

!20 been constructed by Colburn's carpenters for the Kennebec passage, but the men soon found the bateaux to be almost unusable. The bateaux (generally written “battoe”) were extremely difficult to handle, especially for inexperienced boatmen, and almost no one in the expedition had been in anything larger than a canoe. The bateaux had high sides flaring out from a flat bottom with sharp, long overhanging ends. The green pine had been cut thin to offset its weight and the boats were easily damaged in rapids or by rocks. At Gardiner the shallow depth of water prevented any further up-river sailing in the sloops that had brought the expedition from Massachusetts and the army was forced to transfer to the bateaux. The men loaded their bateaux, and after many trials to determine how to best handle the ungainly critters, the expedition set forth. It reached Fort Western, where the city of Augusta now stands, on the 24th in cold and rain after a passage of only nine miles. The misery in attempting to use the bateaux was apparent from the very beginning, but did little to dampen the high spirits of the men destined to endure hardships well beyond their expectations. Fort Western could hardly be called a fort as it had been abandoned after the French and Indian War sixteen years earlier and allowed to decay. It consisted of a large log house and parade ground enclosed within a palisade with two two-story and two one-story blockhouses. The parade ground proved to be a good tenting spot, but there were only a few settlers living in the vicinity. The fort was impossible to use as a base of operations as there were no supplies to be gathered from the surrounding area. Much to Arnold's dismay, this theme would repeat itself at every camping site until the expedition reached French settlements on the Chaudiere River. The two scouts that had been sent by Colburn in August to test the route returned while Arnold was at Fort Western. The scouts reported they had gone across the “Great Carrying Place” to the Dead River and up the river for about thirty miles. The water was shoal due to the dry season, but they thought the route was passable. They also mentioned an Indian they had encountered who was in General Carleton's pay and probably would report the presence of the expedition to the British at the earliest opportunity. Supposedly a great number of Mohawks were on the upper Chaudiere and would have attacked the two scouts if they had traveled further north. Arnold took little note of this intelligence, but dispatched two parties of scouts from the rifleman companies, one from Hendricks's to map the Dead River, and the other of eight men and two guides under Lt. Archibald Steele of Smith's company to mark the carrying places and determine the course of the Chaudiere River. John Joseph Henry was one of these men. At Fort Western the men were required to portage their bateaux around the falls and rapids of the Kennebec for half a mile. A wagon road existed up to Fort Halifax, eighteen miles up river, but it was rarely used and in bad repair. The first division of riflemen departed Fort Western on September 25th, finally and formally under the command of Daniel Morgan. Arnold had wanted to assign a higher ranking officer, but the riflemen would not agree to be commanded by anyone other than their own officers. Morgan was the obvious choice due to his extensive military experience

!21 and being a Scotch-Irishman like most of the men in the Pennsylvania companies. The rifle companies were made up of very independent men, perhaps even too democratic to accept military discipline, but that was a common problem in patriot armies throughout the Revolutionary War. The second division left on the 26th, the third division a day later, and the fourth straggled out at the end of the week. The riflemen had orders to blaze the trail for the following divisions and cut a road across the "Great Carrying Place" as the distance between the Kennebec and Dead Rivers was called. They supposedly traveled with provisions for forty-five days but with much less baggage than the following divisions. The seven-man boats were loaded above the falls at Fort Western, then polled and paddled upstream by three or four men while the rest marched on the road. Nearing Fort Halifax the river was rapid and rocky and the boatmen were only able to push the bateaux through the water with great difficulty. Arnold called this place "Three-Mile Falls" while Arnold's secretary, Captain Eleazer Oswald, called it "Six-Mile Falls" in his journal (published by P. Force, American Archives.) At any rate, it took the riflemen a day and a half to travel the eighteen miles. While in the rapids the boatmen were forced to wade in the cold river up to their waists and push the unmanageable bateaux upstream while onrushing water forced its way through warping seams to soak the cargo and increase the dead weight they were handling. Fort Halifax was discovered to be built along the lines of Fort Western but smaller and in an even more decayed state. Captain Dearborn characterized it as having two blockhouses, a large barracks and a palisade, all in a ruinous state. It could not be called a fort at all, much less a supply point or base. By the standard of Fort Western, all subsequent camping places left much to be desired. Half a mile above Fort Halifax the Kennebec descended over a series of rock ledges now called the Ticonic Falls. The portage here was extremely difficult and about three-fifths of a mile long. The bateaux were manhandled out of the river, off-loaded, and carried by four-man teams on poles passed underneath the boats. Those detailed as boatman traded off with those marching so that everyone shared equally in the heavy and unpleasant work. The weight of the boats and cargo apparently averaged about 1,000 pounds per boat at the start of the expedition, and some of the boats may have weighed as much as four hundred pounds without cargo. At any rate, the weight was immense, and a full day was required for each company to pass the falls. A few miles above Ticonic Falls the army encountered the "Five Mile Ripples", a difficult stretch of shoal water but not one to require a portage. The weather was already cold and uncomfortable, and the men built huge campfires at night to dry their clothes. Several tiny settlements were passed above the ripples until the riflemen came to Skowhegan Falls, twenty-one miles from Fort Halifax. This obstacle was daunting, and although the portage was short, James' company was only able to make three miles on the day they passed the falls. Between Skowhegan Falls and Norridgewock Falls the river became increasingly shallow,

!22 rocky and rapid. The men pushing the bateaux were often swept off their feet and obliged to swim to shallower water. Adding to the men's discomfort was severely cold weather that froze the men's clothes solid. The men also discovered that their leather footwear disintegrated rapidly from being constantly wet, dried out over campfires, and frozen at night, and the men were forced to improvise footwear from whatever they could find. When Norridgewock was reached the riflemen discovered only three families in the vicinity, and these settlers represented the end of civilization until the upper Chaudiere. Many of the men were already suffering from exposure and various ailments, and the sick list was beginning to mushroom. They had come fifty miles of the easiest passage in ten days, not a good omen with 295 miles yet before them. Norridgewock Falls were found to be a series of dangerous rapids with violent falls at each end. The distance was over a mile, and the drop was determined to be about ninety feet. The riflemen completed their portage on Monday, October 2nd, but the army was held up at the falls for almost a week. The bateaux were already little more than makeshift rafts, and all had to be repaired and re-caulked. Reuben Colburn and his company of carpenters spent a great deal of time repairing boats upstream from the falls, and forced to endure the constant curses of the men who were required to wrestle the boats daily up the river. All cargos were inspected and found to be heavily damaged by water, particularly the salted beef, dried fish, bread and biscuits. The spoiled provisions were discarded, making the bateaux lighter but also reducing the food supply to a dangerous level. Some attempts were made to shoot game, but other than a few moose, little sustenance was obtained from this activity. The noise of the army kept the game animals far away, and the men had little time to spare in making side trips for hunting. The riflemen proceeded up river on October 3rd and 4th, passed Carritunk Falls, and arrived at The Great Carrying Place, about thirty-two miles above Norridgewock on the 6th and 7th. Here the Kennebec continued northwards about fourteen miles to where it forks into East and West Branches, the West Branch being called the Dead River. The Dead turns west for about twelve miles, then turns due south for ten miles before turning northwest again. By utilizing the chain of three ponds or lakes connecting the Kennebec with the Dead River at The Great Carrying Place, Arnold's party saved over twenty-five miles of rapids, very shallow water, and essentially non- navigable river. The Great Carrying Place was known from early times and Indian tribes had marked a trail across the ponds. Morgan's division first ascended a small stream to the East Carrying Pond, marking and widening the trail for the other three divisions to follow. The distance was about three and one-quarter miles, but heavy rains fell on the 8th and 9th, making the roadway boggy, muddy and difficult to traverse. It took the riflemen two days to carry their bateaux to the East Carry Pond and at the same time improve the trail. Wind and snow impeded the expedition's progress after arriving at East Pond and added to the men's suffering. The pond was only a half mile wide, and after this short crossing was

!23 accomplished by paddling the bateaux back and forth across the pond, the trail-blazing began anew. The second carry was little more than a half mile, and the second pond, Little Carry Pond, provided calm water for about a mile and a half. The riflemen built a hut on the second portage for the sick and injured as men were falling out in significant numbers. Another mile and a half brought the men to West Carry Pond, but this distance was extremely difficult as the ground was swampy and choked with roots and brush. The men waded up to their waists in mud and bog, often slipping and falling, losing control of their bateaux, and spilling cargo into the slime. West Carry Pond was two miles wide and easily traversed, but the last carry to the Dead River was three miles long and easily the worst obstacle yet encountered. The first mile featured a steep ascent, then a mile of downwards slope, then a mile of what appeared to be firm ground covered by green moss broken by almost impenetrable thickets. The soldiers immediately found themselves breaking through the eight inch thick moss into hideously deep mud hiding sharp snags and sticks. Injuries were commonplace and the labor was extremely hard. A very welcome respite followed when they came to Bog Brook, a slow stream flowing out of the bog that easily floated the bateaux the last mile to the Dead River. All in all, it took the riflemen six days to traverse the Great Carrying Place, arriving at the Dead River on October 13th. The total length of the Great Carrying Place had been about thirteen and a half miles, counting the mile on Bog Brook. At that pace they would not reach Quebec in 1775. On the 12th of October Lieutenant Steele and his scouting party returned to report they had reached the Chaudiere River and seen Chaudiere Lake. This was an error, as they only reached the Megantic River which would later be called the Arnold River. Steele said the Dead River was fine and deep "most part" of the way, and that the Height of Land (the pass into Canada) was about eighty miles distant. Arnold immediately dispatched Steele and Lieutenant Church with twenty men to clear the portages to Lake Megantic and travel down the Chaudiere until they reached the French settlements. For many of the riflemen, it sounded like the remainder of the passage would be easy and they would soon be in Canada. Morale was high and James and his compatriots assumed that the worst was over. They couldn’t have been more mistaken. On October 16th, Lieutenant-Colonel Greene's division began ascending the Dead River taking over the van from Morgan. The column was badly strung out and the last of the army would not arrive on the Dead River until the 20th. Morgan's division finished its work on the portages and followed immediately after Greene. The Dead River was wide and deep, but it meandered back and forth in the valley alongside Mount Bigelow (current name) so that eight miles of paddling netted perhaps five miles of linear progress. At the end of his first day as the army’s van, Greene discovered his provisions were suddenly very short. According to James Melvin (a private in Captain Dearborn’s company who kept a journal), it was probable that Morgan’s men stole Greene’s provisions as Greene passed through Morgan’s command. Greene immediately put his division on short rations of a half pint of

!24 flour per day and decided to wait for more provisions from the following contingents. On the 17th Morgan's division resumed its lead position up Dead River. Greene would wait five days and be rewarded with very meager supplies that provided less than bare subsistence. On the 19th rains began which became progressively heavier over the next three days. Henry noted in his diary for the 21st that he, John Tidd and James joined Lieutenant Simpson in his bateaux as boatmen and they were able to beat any boat on the river for speed. But then a furious gale began buffeting the men, filling the river with uprooted trees and causing it to rise by several feet. During the nighttime hours on the 21st the river rose another eight feet, and by morning on the 22nd the little army was in desperate straits. The riflemen were driven from their campsite at Ledge Falls by the rising water during the night in near total darkness and lost a substantial part of their baggage. Then weather grew much colder on the 22nd and having lost their tents, the riflemen suffered terribly in the below-freezing nights. Worst of all was the swift current. It made upstream movement almost impossible, and the spreading flood made lakes out of meadows and landmarks indistinguishable. There was little dry land other than steep hillsides on which to travel, and with all of the side creeks flooded by ten or more feet of icy water, extensive detours caused parties to lose their way and become disoriented. Food supplies were lost or spoiled in the water, critical equipment swept away and game disappeared. Cohesion was maintained by firing signal rounds and the survival of the entire expedition was seriously threatened. Progress was excruciatingly slow against the swift river, but the riflemen had little choice but to press on. After taking the wrong course for two miles on the 23rd and having to retrace their steps, the exhausted riflemen pushed on three miles to another carrying place. Here, at Upper Shadagee Falls, seven bateaux were upset and all the provisions were lost from those bateaux. James and the men in his company were nearing the end of their strength from manhandling the bateaux and fighting debilitating cold in constantly wet clothes. The party camped at a site christened "Camp Disaster" with provisions down to starvation level. They were in a trackless wilderness with almost no supplies, very poorly attired against the severe weather and cold, and going forward or backward looked equally grim. On the evening of the 23rd at Camp Disaster, Arnold called a council of war with Major Meigs and Captains Morgan, Hendricks and Smith. It was decided that 26 invalids would be sent back, and an advance party of 50 men under Captain Hanchett would hurry forward to secure provisions from the Chaudiere valley. Colonels Enos and Greene, with their second and fourth divisions, would press on with whatever number of men could be provided with fifteen days rations while sending the remainder back to Fort Western and the Kennebec River. It was a plan born of desperation, but seemed the only one offering any hope of survival, much less the success of the expedition. The next day Captain Hanchett departed for the Chaudiere with his "flying column" and Arnold embarked separately with a small group in a canoe to likewise seek Canadian assistance.

!25 James and his fellow riflemen fought their way forward as before on empty stomachs. It had become a matter of do or die. The next day the riflemen and Meigs' division made only five miles to the far side of Sarampus Falls. Several bateaux capsized and money and ammunition were lost as well as more baggage and provisions. The weather worsened (if possible) with rain and snow falling all night, and exposed to the elements without tents or waterproof clothing, the riflemen could only huddle around campfires, shivering and cursing. Only by extreme effort were the riflemen and Meigs's division able to arrive at the pond three miles above Sarampus Falls on the 26th. Men passed out from the cold and had to carried along by stronger comrades. The riflemen were now completely exhausted, numbed by the wet and cold and in desperate straits. In the meantime Greene's division had arrived at Camp Disaster almost destitute of provisions, and all hope for an improvement in rations rested with Colonel Enos. Colonel Enos arrived at Camp Disaster with a few officers well ahead of his division and immediately held a conference with Greene to consider Arnold's orders. The New England soldiers in Enos’ division were desperately tired of the hardships and solidly for turning back regardless of Arnold’s orders. In a horrible example of democracy, Colonel Enos and his officers voted to return downstream and abandon the expedition. Greene's division was given two small barrels of flour from Enos’ provisions, and the 4th Division disappeared downstream without further ado. Without even sending a note to his commander, Colonel Enos and the vast majority of his division simply deserted the expedition and left it to its fate. The next morning Greene and his men struggled onward in faithful compliance to their orders, gravely embittered at Enos and his men. Of all the divisions, the 4th Division had experienced the least hardship and easiest passage. The trails over the carrying places were well- established before they reached them and they had enjoyed the greatest abundance of provisions. Enos would later be subjected to a court martial, but without any of Arnold’s other officers present to give evidence (none had returned by that time), Enos skated free on all charges. Meanwhile, the route taken by the army now numbering little more than six hundred men went through the chain of ponds across the Height of Land made up of Lower Pond, Bag Pond, Pocket Pond, Natanis Pond, Round Pond and Horseshoe Stream to Lost Pond, Horseshoe Pond, Mud Pond and Arnold's Pond, although there is some evidence that a company or two crossed by a trail through Crosby's Pond. The total length of the route from Lower Pond to Arnold River was about eighteen miles of which about half was portage. The riflemen camped the night of the 26th between Horseshoe and Mud ponds after a day of fighting snow, swamp and rocks. The following day they passed Arnold's Pond, crossed the carry over the boundary into Canada and camped in the meadows by a branch of the Arnold River called Muddy Brook. Greatly weakened by hunger and below-freezing weather, Smith's and Hendricks' companies only carried one bateaux apiece across the four and a half mile Boundary Carry to the

!26 Arnold River. Morgan, however, ordered his men to portage his remaining seven bateaux over the "Terrible Carry" with all his remaining supplies. It was recorded that Morgan's men wore their shoulders down to the bone in this fearful ordeal. James' company probably only had one serviceable bateaux remaining in any case, and it certainly possessed little baggage or provisions after the losses in the storm and high water. Most of the remaining army collected in the meadows alongside the Arnold River by the morning of the 28th. Arnold had gone on ahead with his little party, joined the thirteen scouts with Lieutenants Steele and Church, reached Lake Megantic and was paddling across to the Chaudiere River. Hanchett with his detachment of fifty-five men had traveled along the Arnold River and were tramping along the Megantic lakeshore. It was at this time the riflemen learned of the defection of Colonel Enos and his division. The desertion of the men in the rear who experienced the easiest passage after the hard work of the riflemen was a bitter pill to swallow. Even worse was the realization that losing so much ammunition, forty percent of their men and most of their provisions might doom the expedition even if they were able to reach Quebec after all the hardship. The remaining provisions were distributed among the three divisions, and James' company received only five gils of flour per man. They immediately mixed the flour with water and baked "fire cakes" (a type of frontier biscuit) in the morning campfires. Others received small quantities of salt pork in addition to the flour, but not the rifleman companies. The men now had to reach the French settlements within a week or die in the wilderness from starvation or exposure. In a very real sense it was every man for himself, but the riflemen showed remarkable cohesion in this time of final exertions. Facing starvation, James's company joined Goodrich's and Dearborn's contingents in departing down the Arnold River as soon as they completed baking their cakes. Ward's company followed several hours later. Both Morgan's and Hendricks's companies remained in camp for another night to gather their strength. Morgan had to give his men a well-earned rest after carrying their seven bateaux across the boundary portage. Alone among the companies, they retained sufficient boats to descend the Arnold River. In the afternoon the camp received information sent back by Arnold that the route chosen by Smith and the others was impassable. Instead of marching down the bank of the Arnold River to Lake Megantic, the army should march northeast nearer the mountains to avoid a swamp that could bring the expedition to grief. Morgan's company disregarded this news and traveled in its boats down the river, but the remaining five companies acted on the information to march across the higher ground to the northeast. James and his comrades missed this intelligence and proceeded to march with the other early-departed companies unknowingly into the depths of that horrible and icy swamp. The route down the Arnold River to Lake Megantic was somewhat more than ten miles, but the terrain difficulties made the distance much longer. The river descended rapidly and the land on

!27 both sides was boggy and covered with dense brush and forest. About a mile and a half from Lake Megantic the area was deep swamp with standing water and heavy brush. James's company was nearly stymied by a pair of rivers when it attempted to follow the eastern shore of Lake Megantic. These rivers, one of which is now called the Black or Little Arnold and the other Rush River, proved impossible to ford. The riflemen used their single bateaux to ferry the men across the Little Arnold, and waded through the swamp around Rush Lake in waist deep mud and water. The company ran into another body of water covered by ice, and here the wife of Private Warner elected to stay behind with her ailing husband. There were two or three women on the expedition –- in addition to the newly married Mrs. Warner there was the wife of Sergeant Grier of Hendricks's company. The possible third woman, and whose presence is probably a myth since she vanished after the army arrived in Canada, was supposedly a beautiful half-breed named Jacataqua who marched as the consort of the nineteen year-old Aaron Burr, later to be Vice-President of the and slayer of in a duel. Jemima Warner’s efforts were to no avail, however, as her husband died a few days later, and she caught up with the expedition on the St. Lawrence in front of Quebec. How she was able to successfully trek alone through the wilderness for seventeen days remains an untold story. Most of the men in James's company were now without food having consumed their meager supply of fire cakes while still on the Arnold River. The camp at the lake's outlet into the Chaudiere River was gloomy, but it was impossible to continue in the dark. Most of the men's clothes were little more than filthy rags, and their shoes had long since given out. They tied rags around their feet for warmth and bark strips for soles, but the snow and wet ground defeated all attempts by the riflemen to keep their feet warm and dry. Their clothes were wet to the skin, and they had no shelter, no food, and almost no hope. The expedition was rapidly disintegrating into helpless individual fugitives desperately trying to survive. On the 31st Smith's riflemen and Dearborn's company left their camp on Lake Megantic and struggled northwards alongside the Chaudiere River. They achieved twenty-one miles before darkness halted further progress, an amazing feat born of desperation in a trackless wilderness covered by snow and ice. There was no time for hunting, and the men's hunger hurried them onward. The officers announced that it was “every man for himself” and anyone who fell out was left behind. Many men were barefoot in the snow and ice and anything made of leather was roasted for food. Shot pouches, straps and belts disappeared into the soldiers' stomachs. Most had not eaten real food for three or four days. On a long, sandy beach on the Chaudiere, some of the men in James' company found a few sand-beach roots and ate them raw to satisfy their hunger. They considered themselves fortunate. Salvation arrived providentially at the last possible moment on November 3rd when a relief party of French Canadians sent back by Arnold from settlements on the lower Chaudiere met the van of the army. They brought cattle, oxen, flour and other provisions, and after feeding the van,

!28 hurried on to save the rest of the starving army. Many men who had been left behind to perish were eventually saved through this timely intervention. Another day or two would have spelled doom for those who could no longer walk or were nearly naked. As it was, the army survived by the narrowest of margins. Hollywood could not have created a more thrilling and narrow last minute rescue. On November 4th, Smith and Dearborn's companies arrived at a French farm at Du Loup, a large stream flowing into the Chaudiere River from the East. They forded the stream which came to their shoulders, giddy at seeing the first sign of civilization since leaving Norridgewock a month earlier. The next day they marched the last six miles along the Chaudiere to Sartigan, a mostly Indian settlement near the present St. Georges, where they rejoined Arnold and Steele. They arrived not a moment too soon. A fierce snowstorm descended upon them the next day, but no one was in the mood to complain since they luxuriated in shelter and ample food. Some soldiers even gorged themselves recklessly and died as a result. Over the next several days the remainder of the army straggled in. Some eighty men had perished on the march through the wilderness, 300 hundred had deserted with Colonel Enos, two hundred had fallen out through injury and sickness, and now only 510 stalwart souls remained to conquer Quebec. They were far from being an army—being nearly naked and having little ammunition and no supplies.

!29 4. The Battle for Quebec

By November 13th the army was able to muster almost all able-bodied men at Caldwell's Mill on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. The men looked pitiful. Many had no hats or shoes although some had quickly made moccasins from rough fresh leather while recuperating along the Chaudiere. Their clothes were mere rags held together by vines and other improvised bindings. Nonetheless, they were ready to begin their assault on Quebec. They had come this far, and they were determined to conquer Quebec or die in the attempt. James' company once again took the lead, and the little army began crossing the St. Lawrence to the Quebec (northern) side in canoes and dugouts supplied by French Canadians. The canoe carrying Lieutenant Steele burst apart in the wide river, and Steele was rescued only with some difficulty. Quebec is in the tidal estuary of the St. Lawrence, and merely stepping into a frail birchbark canoe was a delicate operation at the time, particularly during the winter. The operation was conducted directly under the guns of patrolling British warships and surprisingly successful. One of the frigates' picket barges attempted to interrupt the crossing, but it was driven off after an exchange of rifle fire that killed three British soldiers. Two nights of ferrying brought the bulk of the army across, and after ascending the bluff by the same route taken by General Wolfe and his British army sixteen years earlier, Arnold placed his force in position on the Plains of Abraham to begin the siege. Sixty men remained on the south side of the St. Lawrence to continue gathering supplies and maintain a presence among the Canadians for recruiting. A modern reader might be tempted to think the British were laughing too hard to take Arnold's army seriously. The men were very poorly clad and many were almost naked, weapons were in short supply, artillery entirely absent, and at best the army presented an appearance of little more than a disorganized rabble. Arnold paraded his army under the walls of Quebec to induce the city fathers to surrender, and was chagrined to discover that the Scottish Colonel Allen McLean with 600 men of the 84th Regiment had arrived to defend the city. These troops were called the Royal Emigrants being principally Catholic Scottish Highlanders who had fought gallantly under Wolfe. Quebec also enjoyed the services of a battalion of seamen who handled the large quantity of artillery available and various militia units who brought the total of defenders to 1,248 men. This was more than twice the strength of Arnold's force and they enjoyed the comforts of the city, abundant food, supplies, artillery, and professional military leadership. In short, Arnold's army had arrived before the walls of Quebec to find itself alone, outnumbered, outgunned, and facing a critical situation. Even more desperate was the plight of the sixty men left on the south side of the river at Point Levi. They were in danger of being captured by the British naval force patrolling the river any time the Royal Navy desired to make a sortie.

!30 Nevertheless, the riflemen took up positions near the walls of Quebec and began sniping at the defenders whenever a redcoat exposed himself. Hardly surprisingly, the British considered such actions cowardly and not befitting a proper army. The riflemen soon generated a number of complaints for Arnold’s attention. They contended that their rations at Quebec were little better than what they experienced on the Dead River and that replacement clothing and ammunition was urgently required. Most of the men were walking on hunks of freshly cut hide tied onto their feet with strips of leather or fabric, and the ammunition level had fallen to four cartridges per rifleman. After a stormy meeting between Arnold, Morgan, Hendricks and Smith, the riflemen's rations improved somewhat, but there was nothing that could be done about the clothing and munitions. Arnold wrote to General Montgomery at Montreal saying he needed 600 pairs of stockings, 600 yards of wool for breeches, 1,000 yards of flannel for shirts, 300 capes, 300 pairs of gloves, 300 blankets and substantial quantities of powder and ball. In essence, the 510 men in Arnold's Army needed to be entirely re-outfitted and re-equipped. In spite of the dangers and defying all odds, Arnold remained in place in front of Quebec. Unfortunately for the Americans the British captured a sentinel from Smith's company named George Merchant and soon learned of the army's plight. They tested Arnold's resolve on November 16th by enticing a detachment of Smith's company under Lieutenant Simpson to sortie across the St. Charles River where supposedly there was a herd of cattle for the taking. Simpson led twenty-two men of Smith's company down to the ferry over the St. Charles where they were ambushed by artillery fire. One man, Sergeant Dixon of Smith's company, was mortally wounded on the ferry, the first death caused by hostile fire. On the 17th the British made an attack upon the American sentinels but were driven back. A thorough inventory of munitions revealed the musket companies were down to less than five rounds of ammunition per man and of course they possessed no bayonets. When it was learned that the British were preparing a sally with seven field pieces, Arnold withdrew the army twenty miles westwards to Pointe aux Trembles, a small village on the St. Lawrence, to await the arrival of Montgomery. The weather was bitterly cold, and marching in the snow and ice was exceedingly sad and depressing. At Pointe aux Trembles sufficient provisions were distributed to alleviate the troops' hunger, but there still was no clothing. It was not until December 1st when Montgomery arrived with more stores including a number of British uniforms captured at Saint John's that the troops could clothe themselves against the cold. James and the others must have looked a sight in a mixture of British uniforms and their customary Indian and frontier dress. Although Montgomery brought artillery and 300 men, the bulk of his army had refused to come with him to Quebec. Many of Montgomery’s men were from Vermont and had served under who bungled the first attack on Montreal. They had alienated many Canadians by looting and now Allen's second-in-command, Seth Warner, flatly refused to participate in the

!31 Quebec campaign. Instead he led the Vermont men home to their farms where many would remain until being called up as militia again under Warner or General John Stark, win the but then leave Gates’ army at Saratoga at a critical junction. Colonel Edward Mott also refused and marched his men back to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Only Colonel James Easton and a few others of Allen's former force were persuaded with great difficulty to at least garrison Montreal until reinforcements arrived in the spring. America was dying of democracy. With numbers still less than 1,000 men and greatly outnumbered by British forces, Arnold and Montgomery returned to the task of capturing Quebec. The approach march on the 2nd was made in heavy and fresh snow without snowshoes and the men experienced a march equally as bad as the one from Quebec to Pointe aux Trembles. Most of Arnold's men wore freshly-made moccasins, akin to a modern individual wearing bedroom slippers while trudging through heavy snow. By nightfall on December 3rd, the Americans occupied Beauport on the northwest side of the St. Charles, the suburb of St. Roque on the northwest side of Quebec, the suburbs of St. John west of the city, and all of the Plains of Abraham. The British were cooped up in the fortress of Quebec. Nonetheless, Governor Carleton, who had reached Quebec after evacuating Montreal, speedily built up the city's defenses and soon had over 1,800 men under arms, only 543 of whom were Canadians. The open area between Cape Diamond and the Palace Gate was protected with a palisade of stout timbers, provisions for eight months accumulated, and one hundred and fifty pieces of artillery emplaced. Before Carleton finished gathering his resources, the Americans were outnumbered two to one even with Montgomery and his troops at hand. Smith's riflemen were placed in St. John and began sniping once again at sentries behind the palisade. This activity annoyed the British, but being content only to bombard St. John with artillery, they were unable to drive the riflemen from their positions. Nonetheless casualties were incurred with relative regularity. Jemima Warner, the wife of Private Warner who died along the Chaudiere, was decapitated by a British twenty-four pound cannon ball as she carried water to the riflemen. The Warner family had been extinguished in the fight for liberty, and Jemima's loss was deeply felt in James' company. Molly Pitcher would receive great fame for a lesser deed at Monmouth Courthouse while Jemima would be forgotten. By the 10th the American artillery was emplaced west of the city but consisted only of five twelve-pounders and a howitzer. Compared to the artillery possessed by the British, the American emplacement was ridiculously small. Accurate British fire soon demolished the American battery and its surviving guns were withdrawn. It was clear the Americans did not possess sufficient means to batter a breach in the city walls and would have to rely on an infantry attack. On the 16th Montgomery and Arnold held a council of war and a plan of assault was agreed upon by the entire group of officers attending. Four simultaneous attacks would be made against the Upper Town at various points between Cape Diamond and Palace Gate. Three of these would

!32 be mere demonstrations, as the only real attack was to be against the Cape Diamond bastion. As this bastion was considered impregnable, the Americans would wait for a dark and stormy night when the bastion might be expected to be lightly defended. Within a short time this plan was discarded due to a feeling that the British would surrender Upper Town if Lower Town was taken, and assaulting Lower Town was felt to be a much less perilous undertaking. Lower Town also possessed Quebec’s merchant warehouses and port facilities and therefore contained most of the Canadian wealth. Its capture would surely distress the enemy and possibly cause Carleton to capitulate without having to take Upper Town. Bad weather was still considered to be a prerequisite condition for a successful attack. For almost two weeks the Americans remained inactive due to extremely cold weather, deep snow, ice, and an outbreak of smallpox. During this waiting period a near revolt developed in three New England companies whose enlistments would expire on December 31st. Led by their rebellious Captains Hanchett, Goodrich and Hubbard, these men declared that they were marching home on the 1st of January regardless of anything else. Montgomery and Arnold were beside themselves with rage and frustration, as such a large loss in manpower would automatically bring the siege to a conclusion and imperil the remainder of their army. Morale began to drop precipitously as word spread through the army of the New Englanders’ intentions. The riflemen had endured the cowardly desertion of Enos and his men, now they were facing the same thing again from a New England contingent. Maintaining harmony between the various colonial regions would always be a problem in American armies, but on this expedition it was definitely a major source of discontent. The riflemen remained in tolerably good spirits due to their constant activity in harassing the British, but they tended to clash with the New Englanders over what they considered as cowardice and unmanliness. For men like James it was simply not possible to have come all this way and suffered such incredible hardships without making a try at the city. Conflicts between the riflemen and the New Englanders increased, and Arnold kept his army together only with constant effort. He directed the riflemen's anger toward the British and spread them out all along the perimeter of Quebec with orders to shoot any unwary sentinel or officer. The British suffered a score or more killed through this activity which they highly condemned as "skulking" tactics. Some of James’ Company broke into Lieutenant Governor Cramahe’s country home and stripped the house of blankets, mattresses and anything useful. They also raided a nearby farm and slaughtered the livestock. Montgomery and Arnold decided to attack Lower Town under cover of the next snowstorm if it fell before the enlistments of the New Englanders expired. As luck would have it, the weather worsened on December 30th, the next to last day of the New England enlistments, and Montgomery ordered the assault. Both Montgomery and Arnold considered their assault to be a last-ditch desperate attempt to capture Quebec, and if it failed, there would be no option except to retreat and give up all of Canada. The plan was changed again after a call for volunteers to scale the

!33 walls produced a surprise: from the New Englanders only two of Goodrich’s men volunteered, a few of Hanchet’s, but all of Montgomery’s New Yorkers and the vast majority of the riflemen. The discontent had broken out into the open. The riflemen put white paper bands with the words “Liberty or Death” around their caps and prepared for the assault. In many respects the plan was foolhardy, but the little American army probably had no other better possibility of success. The Americans would attack at both ends of Lower Town: Arnold on the North with over five hundred men in his detachment storming the barrier at Sault an Matelot; Montgomery with three hundred to attack by way of the beach of the St. Lawrence on the South through Anse des Meres and the fortifications at Pres de Ville, then through Champlain Street to meet up with Arnold at the foot of Mountain Street where the passage to Upper Town began. Several other small feint attacks would be made on the west palisade, St. John's Gate, and the Palace Gate. The plan sounded good on paper, but depended on surprise and speed of movement for success. The critical flaw of no communication between the attacking forces was overlooked. The storm reached its height about three in the morning on the 31st, and the assault companies moved off the dark and snow. Visibility was negligible as the large, heavy and wet snowflakes fell thickly and quickly covered everything, even the marching soldiers, with a blanket of white. Unfortunately it was also a wet snow, and equally quickly wet both uniforms and equipment as if the attacking troops were in a rainstorm. Arnold and Montgomery led their detachments from the front in part due to the limited visibility, and both would pay heavily for their courageous leadership. Arnold's contingent was formed with himself and Morgan in the van. The column was led by thirty pickets under Captain Oswald, then came Morgan's company of Virginia riflemen, Lamb's artillery with an eight-pounder on a sled, and the companies of Topham, Thayer, Ward and Hendricks. Smith's company under Lieutenant Steele (Smith was sleeping, drunk on a table in Morgan's headquarters) followed Hendricks, and lastly came the unreliable companies of Goodrich, Hanchett and Hubbard. Dearborn's company was to follow Morgan's, but Dearborn was delayed crossing the St. Charles and forced to bring up the rear behind Hubbard. In the event, Dearborn arrived too late to do anything but surrender. The snow in places was already up to the men's knees when the column passed through St. Roque towards the Palace Gate. At four A.M. three rockets went off over the Plains of Abraham to signal the start of the diversionary attack by Canadian volunteers. Arnold and the riflemen were still in the open between widely spaced houses below the Palace Gate. The gate loomed above them and commanded the route the column must take along the St. Charles River to reach the Lower Town. The British awoke with the diversionary attack and opened fire with muskets along the ramparts next to the gate. Morgan’s riflemen ran down the Rue St. Paul past the gate into a less exposed area below the city wall where the British fire was weaker. Lamb's gunners joined them, but their single cannon fell off the sled into a bank of snow. Morgan's riflemen charged up to the barricade across the Sault-

!34 au-Matelot, and fired point-blank through the loopholes at the British. Canadian Militia opened fire from houses on both sides, and Arnold was hit. Two men swept him up and carried him back to the General Hospital in St. Roque. Morgan seized command immediately, and the attack continued without faltering. A British cannon fired from the barricade and killed the Canadian guide at Morgan's side, but the riflemen were able to place their ladders against the barricade. Morgan was the first man over the top and landed on one of the cannon, injuring his back but saving him from the bayonets of defenders. His riflemen followed him through a sally port at the end of the platform behind the barricade, and cut off the retreat of the British guard manning the barricade. Morgan's men shouted for the guard to surrender and in moments were burdened with a greater number of prisoners than Americans over the barricade. Hardly stopping to control the prisoners, the riflemen dashed on down the street to a second barrier that was seized without opposition. According to the plan, Morgan had reached Arnold's objective; now they were to link up with Montgomery and storm the Upper Town. Suddenly Morgan and the riflemen were in a cone of silence having chased the Canadian militia away from the houses and captured a hundred and thirty British prisoners. For all appearances, they appeared to be masters of Lower Town. All of the firing was in the rear where the column was still running the gauntlet in front of the Palace Gate and the North Wall. The column began bunching up in Lower Town between the two barriers and awaited further orders. Morgan walked two hundred yards up Sault au Matelot Street, saw no one, and returned to his men at the inner gate. This gate was the only access through the wooden wall designed to seal off the street from the remainder of Lower Town. In obedience to his orders to wait for Montgomery, Morgan decided to wait. It was a fatal error that Morgan would never repeat in subsequent battles. Montgomery would never arrive. He had led his troops down to the St. Lawrence and marched northeast along the foot of the cliffs for two miles in blinding snow. His troops became badly disorganized and strung out along the route as they stumbled and picked their way across great blocks of ice and through waist deep snow. It was five o'clock before Montgomery reached the barricade at Cape Diamond. He and his carpenters sawed through the barricade until a small gap was created which Montgomery stepped through to perform his own personal reconnaissance. He saw a blockhouse to the right commanding a second barricade, but it was silent and apparently unoccupied. With fifteen of his officers and Aaron Burr he rushed toward the blockhouse and second barricade. When the little party came within forty feet of the blockhouse, the British opened up with three cannon and a volley of musket fire. Montgomery was hit in four places and died in Burr's arms, and another fourteen of his officers and men fell as well. Only Aaron Burr survived unwounded to report to Colonel Campbell, Montgomery's second-in-command, back at the first barricade. When Campbell discovered that none of his men's muskets would fire because of the wet

!35 snow, he ordered a precipitous retreat. On the British side the attack nearly caused a panic, and the militia and navy gunners in the blockhouse were persuaded only with great difficulty to remain and face a possible second assault. Had Campbell attacked, it was very likely that he would have been successful. Unfortunately he was no Richard Montgomery. Meanwhile, the rear of Morgan's column was sustaining heavy casualties as the men raced to reach the first barricade that Morgan had overcome so rapidly. The British were recovering from their early surprise and disorientation, and poured fire down on the column through loopholes in stout walls. This part of the battle soon became a turkey shoot as the Americans had no protection except for their speed and the darkness. The heavy snow wet their rifles and muskets and rendered them incapable of firing back. Facing this crisis, Morgan's men armed themselves with captured musket since their own rifles were too wet to fire. With his rear in trouble, Morgan gave the order to advance through the second barricade. Simultaneously, a party of British seamen led by Navy Captain John Anderson came through the second barricade and Anderson ordered Morgan to surrender. The Americans answered by firing a ball that through Anderson’s head, and the seamen quickly retreated through the gate, shutting and locking it to seal Morgan in between the two barricades. The way that had been open and undefended a few minutes earlier was now barred and manned. The riflemen placed scaling ladders against the second barricade, but discovered that Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Caldwell was now in position with his battalion of militia behind the barricade and in houses overlooking Morgan’s position. British fire swept the top of the wall and knocked men off the ladders. Lieutenant Steele was wounded and James' company, having come up rapidly to join the Virginia riflemen, bunched up at the foot of the inner barricade to fire in rotation from the top of the ladders. Within minutes the British manhandled a cannon into position overlooking the street and raked the top of the barricade and a hundred yards down the street with grapeshot. Coming up from the first barricade, Captain John Lamb of the artillery suffered a grievous wound in the face from this cannon blast, and Morgan ordered his men into the houses on both sides of the street. While Morgan was fighting at the second barricade, Carleton ordered Captain Laws with a reserve force of five hundred British and Canadian troops to seal Morgan's rear. Laws sallied forth from the Palace Gate as the storm tapered off and surprised Dearborn's late arriving company in the open. Dearborn's men had no chance to defend themselves as their muskets were too wet to fire. Nor did they have bayonets, and there was little choice but surrender. The British with their dry and functioning muskets turned toward Lower City along the St. Charles River, and gobbled up the American wounded and faint of heart retreating from the battle. In a few minutes the British seized control of the first barricade from the outside, and Morgan was caught in a trap. The British fire became increasingly heavy and accurate, but the riflemen fought back from doorways and windows. Lieutenant John Humphries of Morgan's company was shot off a ladder

!36 along with one of Hanchett's dissidents, Lieutenant Samuel Cooper. Captain Hubbard was severely wounded in the street, Captain Hendricks was killed at a second-floor bedroom window, and Arnold's adjutant, Mathias Ogden, was wounded at the second barricade. Inside the houses, the riflemen dried their weapons and slowly began returning fire. Some of the men sallied out to find a route around the wall near the river, but were decimated out in the open. The battle took a decisive turn when the British recovered an American ladder and were able to enter a house through a second-story window at the second barricade. The riflemen were flushed out with bayonets, and the fighting became hand-to-hand—the British using bayonets and the Americans swinging tomahawks and rifle butts. The British cleared the house at the barricade, and the remaining riflemen were forced to fire uphill at an enemy in vastly superior positions. In four hours of fighting the British slowly drove the Americans back with concentrated fire and quick bayonet charges. Men began to surrender as they ran out of ammunition. The musket companies under Thayer and Topham in the rear at the first barricade gave up the fight and the British pushed across to tighten the noose around the riflemen at the second barricade. More than 150 of Arnold's force were killed or wounded, and out of ammunition, there was no choice but to surrender. Morgan was the last, giving his sword to a priest instead of a British or Canadian officer. In the morning light, 372 men of Arnold's command marched up Mountain Hill Street into Upper Town to be added to the 54 already taken earlier. The prisoners included James Dougherty, exhausted, cold, wet but unwounded, unsure of the fate that awaited him.

!37 5. Prisoner of the British

The captured officers were quartered initially in the Quebec Seminary of Laval and the other ranks in the Jesuit Monastery and the College of the Recollects in the Upper Town. General Carleton allowed Major Meigs to collect the prisoners' baggage from their encampment outside Quebec and dispatched search parties to collect American wounded, thus rescuing Captains Hubbard and Lamb. Carleton made no move to capture the remainder of Arnold's army and treated the prisoners humanely considering the standards of the times. Captivity was certainly better than starvation and death by exposure that had been James' lot during the march to Quebec. Arnold rashly remained in position before Quebec instead of retreating immediately. He slowly rebuilt his force through recruitment of French Canadians and somehow bluffed Carleton into thinking he could put up a respectable resistance if attacked. In February he was promoted to Brigadier General and by then he commanded eight hundred men, most of which were militia and poorly trained. He kept up the appearance of a siege, and wrote General Wooster at Montreal for reinforcements. It would be April before Wooster joined Arnold at Quebec, and by then there was little chance to seize Quebec before fresh British forces arrived to reinforce Carleton. On May 1, 1776, when General Thomas relieved the inactive Wooster and took over the siege of Quebec, the army contained 1,900 men of whom the vast majority were inexperienced militia and recently raised units. On the 6th British warships moved up the St. Lawrence while General Carleton deployed to attack the American positions. The long-feared attack was imminent and the American army simply melted away leaving behind all its baggage and ammunition. Arnold was then at Montreal and furious over Thomas's rout. But there was nothing to be done, and with his remaining forces Arnold could not hope to defend Montreal. On June 13th, Arnold was forced to evacuate Montreal, and by the 19th the only Americans remaining in Canada were prisoners. The College of the Recollects in which James was held prisoner was a large, quadrangular building built around a half-acre open area, and capable of housing several thousand men. The lower part was used for storerooms, and the Americans were housed in a section of the second story. The individual rooms were about ten feet by thirteen feet opening on long galleries, and ten men were confined to each room. Even though many rooms were unoccupied, the prisoners were crowded together to save on guards who might be needed to defend Quebec from Arnold still outside the city walls. Other than having to endure crowding, the prisoners found their confinement relatively comfortable. Carleton allowed them rum as a New Year's gift immediately after being captured, and their daily ration included a pound of bread, half a pound of pork and a gill of rice. Six ounces of

!38 butter was furnished each week, as well as other supplements from time to time. These rations, consistently edible, were better than James had received at any time under Arnold's command. Colonel McLean conducted a survey of the prisoners with respect to countries of birth that the men answered honestly since there was no indication as to why the information was wanted. To the prisoners’ surprise, those of British or Irish birth (like James) were given the option to enlist in the Royal Emigrants Regiment or be taken to England to stand trial for treason. Ninety-five men accepted this offer on enlistment believing that such a coerced oath was not valid or enforceable. It is quite possible that James was one of those men. The volunteers for the Royal Emigrants were moved to separate rooms and given uniforms and some equipment. They were not fully trusted, but security was lessened. Two Scotch-Irishmen who had enlisted from James' company immediately hatched an escape plan. They shared a bottle of rum with a sentry, and when he became compromised with drink, they knocked him senseless and fled over the wall into a deep snowdrift. Somehow they made their escape through the snow dodging musket fire from the sentries and grape from a cannon. Within a few days twelve more of the Scotch-Irish escaped and Carleton ordered the remaining eighty-three Scotch-Irish back into tight captivity, forfeiting their new uniforms, accouterments and rations. McLean’s recruitment drive was a total failure. James and the other enlisted prisoners soon found themselves in the coldest winter in the memory of the French in Quebec. Temperatures more than 28 below zero were recorded, and the sentries were relieved every half hour to keep warm. The prisoners were not able to fight the cold in their stone, unheated rooms, and sickness was the natural result. No additional clothing was furnished, the rations became increasingly poor, and it soon became too cold to sleep. The prisoners spent their nights exercising and marching back and forth to keep warm. Around the middle of January the enlisted men were moved to the Dauphin jail which was built with stone walls three feet thick and surrounded by a wall twenty feet high. About thirty men remained from James' company, and they were housed in a second-story room. The jail was not as strong as it appeared, and the riflemen soon began working on a plan of escape. It was found that the iron bars on the windows were corroded and relatively easily removed. Once out of their room, the prisoners could descend a flight of stairs to the ground floor cellar where a plank door barred their access to the street facing St. John's Gate. Fortunately for the Americans this door opened inward and was secured by a lock and hinges on the inside. Within a few weeks the riflemen had reached the door and picked the lock. The main problem confronting the riflemen was the British troops on guard at St. John's Gate. To overcome the guard, the prisoners fashioned knives, tomahawks and spears from the iron junk in the basement. James' group, headed by Sergeant Boyd of his company, was selected to attack the guard house while others attacked the guard at the gate or put sentries out of action. The date for the breakout was set for April 1, 1776.

!39 During the month of March, the water conduits from the small spring in the cellar became frozen and the spring overflowed. Almost a foot of ice built up at the foot of the plank door, sealing it better than any lock. Two men from Connecticut decided to hack away the ice with tomahawks on the night of the escape attempt, and their noisy activity alerted the guards. An investigation followed, and the men involved (including James) were shackled together with foot irons and handcuffs. Many of the iron shackles were sufficiently old or loose for the soldiers to remove when not under observation by their guards, but James’ irons were new and tight and could not be removed. John Joseph Henry specifically remarked in his journal that James was unfortunate in not being able to remove his irons. Scurvy made its appearance on top of the previous smallpox outbreaks in April. Between the scurvy and smallpox more than two hundred of the prisoners died. The enlisted men's clothing was once again reduced to rags, and their plight was nearly as bad as in the final days of the march to the Chaudiere River. Once again many were reduced to near-nakedness and despondency. On May 6th the Quebec siege was raised and the prisoners' lot began to improve. British ships brought the garrison much needed supplies and the prisoners began receiving fresh food. On May 15th the shackles were removed at the order of Major Carleton, the son of General Carleton, and some of the officers began to receive paroles. Dearborn and Meigs were released on the 16th and the prisoners began to hope for the best. General Carleton ordered that all prisoners be given a linen shirt since so many were almost naked, and on June 5th he visited the Dauphin Prison and petitions were allowed for general relief and paroles. It was not until August 5th (some accounts say August 7th) that the British accepted the paroles of the remaining officers and enlisted men which stated according to James: "We the undersigned do solemnly engage to his excellency Genl Carlton (sic) that we will not take up arms against nor do any thing injurious to his majesty King George Third until regularly exchanged." General Carleton gave each enlisted man a small amount of money to help them return home which almost all of the soldiers immediately used to purchase food and tobacco. The prisoners were joined by Colonel William Thompson, James’ regimental commander, and some of his men captured at the unfortunate affair at Three Rivers, Canada. These new prisoners shared their belongings with James and the others which was a most welcome boon to the longer-term captives. The great day finally arrived on August 11th and the paroled prisoners sailed in five transports escorted by the frigate Pearl for New York. James himself probably sailed in the merchantman Lord Sandwich. The little convoy made its way very slowly, stopping at Halifax, , for provisions. The convoy arrived off New York on September 12th while the British under Lord Howe drove Washington from New York City. Howe had decisively defeated Washington on August 27th

!40 in the , and the prisoners were forced to wait while Howe cleared Manhattan. On the 13th Howe sent ships up the East River, and Washington began a partial withdrawal. On the 16th Washington defended Harlem Heights and repulsed the Black Watch, shocking Howe and the British Army. Then on the 17th, James saw New York go up in flames which was hardly a fitting reception to his return. With Howe’s advance momentarily halted, his attention turned to other matters including the Quebec prisoners. With the large number of prisoners captured from Washington’s Army now under Howe’s control, rumors abounded that Howe would not honor the Quebec paroles. In spite of the rumors Howe honored Carleton’s paroles, and on September 24th, 1776, the men were allowed to debark at Elizabethtown Point in New Jersey and make their way home as best they could. James and his fellow survivors from Smith's company numbered only twenty- seven (of the original eighty) and many of those would never regain their health. Some died within a year, and some like John Henry, would be so enfeebled as to take several years to function again as productive citizens. Only the hardiest like James, would break their parole and take up arms again against the British. Almost all of the officers were exchanged before Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga in 1777, and many of them led distinguished careers. The enlisted men taken at Quebec, however, were never exchanged, and James risked summary execution if captured again by the British under arms.

!41 6. Back in the Continental Army

The release point was under patriot control and across from British-occupied on what is now Newark Bay near present day Elizabeth. The entire area has been altered substantially since that time by the construction of Port Elizabeth and Newark Airport and the Point is no longer a geographical feature. Heading immediately for home, James trudged along the dirt roads westward to Easton, Pennsylvania, and then to the Susquehanna River Valley where his wife and five year-old son were eking out an existence. The distance at the time was about 185 miles, and James had evidently recovered well enough from the hardships on the expedition to Quebec and his subsequent captivity to reach home around October 5th. Without money or provisions he would have had to beg for food and water along the way and likely spent the nights sleeping in barns or out-buildings of various types at friendly farms. His time at home with his family was extremely short and the situation may not have been altogether to his liking. Like James, his wife Jane was illiterate and probably possessed few skills other than those expected of a wife and mother. She was probably working as an indentured servant as mentioned previously and life for her was undoubtedly hard with her husband in the Continental Army. James received no pay while on the expedition to Quebec or during the time in British captivity and was released by the British without a penny to his name. No doubt James arrived home in tatters, penniless and possibly even in poor health like most of the Quebec parolees. Most probably he was still wearing the linen shirt given to all prisoners in May by General Carlton. In addition he would have been barefoot or wearing crude moccasins and either ragged trousers or a breechclout with improvised leggings made from untanned leather. He would not have had a bath since leaving Quebec almost two months earlier, and must have looked frightful. Modern readers who have been accustomed to Hollywood portrayals of Revolutionary soldiers being fully dressed cannot conceive of James’ actual state. Movies generally identify poor people by having dirty faces, but James and the survivors of the expedition would have looked like unwashed half-naked skeletons. His first priority was probably to acquire a set of clothes and decent shoes, and it is possible that Jane possessed the skills to outfit him with homespun attire. In any case, James must have outfitted himself sufficiently to enlist in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment. It is surmised that he needed to reenlist in order to fulfill the terms of his indentured servant contract through service in the Continental Army. At any rate, he would serve faithfully for the seven and a half years in Washington’s army even though capture by the British at any time would mean his summary execution for breaking parole.

!42 The 12th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line was raised in the counties of Northumberland and Northampton in pursuance to a resolution of Congress and the field officers were appointed by the Constitutional Convention, September 28, 1776. William Cooke from Northumberland County was appointed as Colonel, and Nicholas Miller, Hawkins Boone, John Brady and John Harris were Captains from Northumberland County. Privates were paid at the rate of six and two-thirds dollars per month and were to furnish their own clothes and accessories. Muskets and rifles were furnished by the State of Pennsylvania. James enlisted at Sunbury on October 17th on the Susquehanna River about 65 miles north of Harrisburg. This time he enlisted for the duration of the war. The majority of the regiment including Miller’s, Boone’s, Brady’s and Harris’ companies, was recruited from the population on the West Branch of the Susquehanna from Paxton to Williamsport, and on the 18th of December the assembled companies left Sunbury in boats to travel down the Susquehanna River for Philadelphia. Evidently recruitment for the regiment was going slowly due to the disastrous defeats being suffered by Washington around New York and the Hudson River. James was detailed to go with Captain Brady up the Susquehanna River Valley to Fort Muncy (about 27 miles north of Sunbury) and assist in recruiting. They must have been successful since the regiment was brought up to strength by early December. In Philadelphia the Northumberland companies joined the contingent from Northampton County and the 12th was brigaded together with newly raised militia under General John Cadwalader. Unable to cross the Delaware to take part in the as planned due to ice, the 12th crossed over the Delaware the day after the Battle of Trenton to reconnoiter the area from Burlington to Bordentown. On December 30, 1776 it crossed the Delaware again to join Washington who had taken up a position behind the Assunpink Creek to await the British army under Lord Cornwallis advancing on Trenton from New Brunswick. The 12th did not arrive in time to take part in the skirmish known as the 2nd Battle of Trenton, and since his company marched near the rear and right flank of the Army on its end run around Cornwallis to Princeton, James also missed the . The army continued moving northward and established winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. As a result of all this, James did a lot of marching in New Jersey, but earned no battle honors. In Morristown the 12th was placed in the brigade commanded by Brigadier General , a Catholic Irishman who had been in the service of Louis XV, King of France. Conway was one of a number of European professional soldiers who came seeking high command in the American Army and expected to win fame and glory on the battlefield against England. Since the 12th was composed of good riflemen (James would have qualified as a rifleman and an experienced veteran) and scouts, it was detailed on picket and skirmish duty by Conway to keep the British at bay. Conway moved his brigade, comprised of the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th Pennsylvania regiments, to new headquarters late in March at the five crossroads at Metuchen, between Quibbletown and

!43 Amboy. From their new location the 12th’s companies were engaged in various skirmishes in New Jersey: at Bound Brook, April 12, 1777; Piscataway, May 10th, where Joseph Lorentz and twenty- one others were made prisoners by the British; Short Hills, June 26th, and Bonamtown. James’ company under Captain John Brady was involved only in the Short Hills fight. The (also called the Battle of Metuchen Meetinghouse) took place at Scotch Plains near modern-day Edison. The battle developed when General Howe failed to lure Washington into a trap at Somerset Court House and withdrew his army to Perth Amboy. Washington followed, using General William Alexander’s (also known as Lord Stirling) command to harass the retreating British. Seeing that Stirling’s division was relatively weak, Howe counterattacked in an attempt to annihilate the American van and force Washington to fight a pitched battle at his great disadvantage. Although General Stirling possessed only 2,200 men in Conway’s Brigade, Maxwell’s Brigade, Morgan’s Riflemen and Ottendorf’s Corps of Skirmishers against Howe’s 4,000 engaged, he put up fierce resistance and slowly retreated into the Ash Swamp and to Scotch Plains. Heavy artillery fire forced Stirling back to Westfield, while Washington took up a strong position at Bound Brook. By the time Howe reached Washington’s front and could consider an assault, his troops were played out and Washington’s position was too strong to risk an attack. It must be remembered that Howe had been in command at Bunker Hill, and he subsequently never attempted a frontal assault on a well-prepared American position. Stirling’s actions resulted in a minor tactical defeat, but a strategic victory for the Americans. American casualties were higher than the British, but Howe ultimately retired from the battlefield and returned to Perth Amboy and Staten Island. American casualties were about eighty killed or wounded and about seventy captured as against about forty for the British, but the British relinquished nearly all of New Jersey to the patriots. Following the Battle of Short Hills, James transferred into Captain Thomas Clark’s Independent Company of Artillery as an artificer. Captain Clark was the son of Abraham Clark of New Jersey, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant on March 1, 1776, in General Knox’s Regiment, New Jersey State Artillery, and became Captain-Lieutenant in July, 1776. Clark fought at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, finally becoming Captain of Artillery, Continental Army on February 1, 1777. He served as commander of his own Independent Artillery Company at the Battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, although he was administratively under Colonel John Lamb, commander of the 2nd Continental Artillery Battalion. James’ service record also notes a Captain Carnes, and that was Captain-Lieutenant Thomas Jenner Carnes, Thomas Clark’s second in command. In July of 1779 Captain Clark transferred to the Whaleboat Service and was captured by the British in 1781 and held prisoner until the end of the war at New York’s Sugar House Prison. He died at the age of 37 in 1789 as a result of his captivity. Thomas Carnes resigned March 8, 1779, and became a Captain of Marines, serving to 1781.

!44 Such a transfer was highly unusual since James was a Pennsylvanian and Clark’s company was mostly from New Jersey. James mentions that he was “drafted” into the artillery, but usually transfers were requested by the soldiers themselves. Almost always they could refuse such a transfer as some men did when chosen for the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard. Although there is no direct evidence in regards to why James arranged this transfer, it could have been to get away from Conway. Conway was arrogant, contentious and extremely unpopular with the Protestant Scotch- Irish due to his being an Irish Roman Catholic. He would later become a principal in the “Conway Cabal”, a plot by a group of officers to supplant General Washington with General Gates. It is also possible that James had made friends in Maxwell’s New Jersey brigade as Maxwell and Conway’s units had fought side by side at Short Hills. At the time Clark’s Artillery was attached to Maxwell’s Brigade. Captain Clark also was a Presbyterian like his father Abraham, and most of his company were undoubtedly Presbyterian like James.

!45 7. Battle of Brandywine

On July 20th General Howe began transferring his army by sea to the Chesapeake in order to attack Philadelphia. Washington countered by spreading his army southwards to cover Howe’s possible moves, and Lord Stirling’s Division containing Clark’s company moved through Philadelphia on August 24th. Howe’s army of 18,000 men began landing at Elk Ferry on Turkey Point near the mouth of the Elk River a day later. By the 28th Howe had advanced to Head of Elk, and Washington began to form up his army behind the Brandywine River to defend Philadelphia. Washington pushed Maxwell’s Brigade of light infantry out in front of his army to harass Howe’s advance and to give him time to bring down Sullivan’s Division which was still in northern New Jersey. Maxwell took up positions on Iron Hill and Aiken’s Tavern across the Maryland- , and set up a series of ambushes that discomforted the British. Howe quickly massed his forces and pushed Maxwell back in a seven-hour skirmish. Maxwell retreated to a position east of Kennett Square and in front of Washington’s position on the Brandywine. Although Clark’s Company was attached to Maxwell, it remained behind Chad’s Ferry on the northern side of the Brandywine River since the action was all skirmishing. On the morning of September 11th General Howe opened the Battle of Brandywine by moving his right wing under the General against Maxwell and driving him back over the Brandywine. Von Knyphausen then demonstrated in front of the Brandywine while Howe took his left wing under Cornwallis on a 17-mile march around Washington’s right flank over an unguarded ford. American intelligence was faulty, and Washington did not receive information of Howe’s movements until it was too late to respond. Nonetheless, Maxwell and Clark were left in position at Chad’s Ferry while the remainder of Stirling’s Division, including Conway’s Brigade, hastily marched to the northwest to confront Cornwallis. Sullivan attempted to move his division to the left of Stirling, but was broken up before he could deploy into an effective line for battle. Attacking about 4:00 PM, Cornwallis and his 8,000 men defeated the 4,000 men under Stirling, Stephen and Sullivan in fierce fighting east of Birmingham Meeting. Washington’s entire army was threatened with destruction. Seeing his opportunity, von Knyphausen attacked across the Brandywine about 4:30 PM. Proctor’s artillery position on the right of the American line at Chadd’s Ford was carried with the loss of its guns, while Maxwell in the center and on the left put up fierce resistance. Two of Clark’s three guns were saved through the timely intervention of about sixty infantrymen from the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment (James’ original regiment from 1775), and began moving up the road toward Chester while Maxwell fought a delaying action. About a mile from Chadd’s Ford the remnants of Clark’s Company with its two six-pounder guns took the road north

!46 towards Dilworth and soon came upon the left flank of General Weedon’s Brigade from Greene’s Division making a stand. The guns went into action again to support Weedon, and checked the advance of the British 46th and 64th grenadier regiments with a great deal of slaughter. This action terminated the battle, and Clark retreated towards Chester with Weedon’s Brigade. Of all American artillery engaged at Brandywine, only four cannon were saved and two of them were Clark’s. The casualties among the artillerymen were not recorded, but James’ company was engaged in the morning demonstrations by von Knyphausen, the British attack across the Brandywine, and in the final repulse of Cornwallis with Weedon. No doubt the casualties were considerable, and James once again was in the thick of the action.

The Americans were not greatly demoralized by their defeat and were able to reform after passing Chester. Washington had suffered losses estimated at 300 killed, 600 wounded, and 400 taken prisoner. James’ old company commander in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment, Captain John Brady, was among the wounded, and Lieutenant Boyd of the 12th was killed. Of interest is the breakdown by nationality of the 315 American prisoners sent to the British base at Wilmington, Delaware. Irish were the largest group at 134, followed by Americans at 82, English at 65, German at 16, Scots at 9, and five other nationalities at from one to three prisoners each. Considering that all of the “Irish” were probably Scotch-Irish along with all the Scots and probably a third of the Americans and even some of the English, it is safe to say that probably 180 of the prisoners were Scotch-Irish or about 57% of the prisoners and indicative of the Scotch-Irish percentage in Washington’s Army. Howe’s losses were much less and officially reported as 93 killed, 488 wounded and 6 missing. Nonetheless, Howe took four days to regroup and rest, while Washington took up a position on the east bank of the Schuylkill River at the Falls of Schuylkill near Germantown on September 13th. The armies maneuvered against each other in the western environs of Philadelphia until September 19th when the Continental Congress decided to evacuate the city. General Howe could not pursue since he possessed insufficient wagons to remove his wounded to Wilmington while at the same time carrying his supplies and baggage in support of an advance. On the 14th Washington re-crossed the Schuylkill River and began moving his army to a position on the Lancaster Road from White Horse Tavern to Tredyffrin Township. On the 16th he advanced in two columns; the one commanded by General Wayne took the Chester Road and the other moved up Lancaster Road toward Boot Tavern with Maxwell’s troops in the lead. A skirmish developed when von von Knyphausen’s Hessians collided with Maxwell at Boot Tavern, but both sides were forced to halt the conflict when a torrential rainstorm erupted. Washington withdrew to a better position in the Great Valley, but the rain continued in a deluge and literally all of Washington’s ammunition was ruined. The “” became a non-event.

!47 More maneuvering took place until the night of September 20th, when Wayne and his Pennsylvanians were attacked at Paoli Tavern while in camp. The British General Grey had ordered his troops to remove their flints and depend on their bayonets. The surprise attack in the dark was successful and Wayne’s force put to flight in what became known as “The Paoli Massacre.” Washington began withdrawing in the direction of Reading, and Philadelphia was Howe’s for the taking. He entered the city on the 26th, and left 9,000 men at Germantown to watch Washington. Philadelphia was the de facto capital of the rebellious colonies during the war and boasted a population of from 30,000 to 40,000 souls. The city presented a microcosm of the colonies through its diverse population. Almost half of the population was German with the other three significant groups being the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish, English Quakers, and Anglicans, both High-Church and Low-Church. The Germans, particularly members of the many pacifist sects, mostly remained neutral although some Baptist and Lutheran Germans supported the revolution. The Quakers were also neutral although they rather effectively supported the British by selling them supplies they refused to make available to Washington. Congress could not pay in specie like the British and the Quakers refused to accept paper Continental dollars for their goods. The High-Church Anglicans were generally loyalists while the Low-Church Anglicans (like Washington) were patriots. Needless to say, the Scotch-Irish were fiercely and rabidly patriots. Other small groups like the half-dozen Jewish families in Philadelphia and the Irish Catholics either remained invisible or were loyalists. In a sentence, the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish, Low-Church Anglicans and Congregationalists were patriots, the High-Church Anglicans, Scottish merchants and highlanders were loyalists, and all other groups were generally neutral with some splitting off into one side or the other. The British generally recognized that the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were their primary enemy, and Howe’s troops often targeted their meeting houses and churches for deliberate acts of desecration. In one instance a Presbyterian church was converted into a slaughter house, its bibles destroyed and entrails of slaughtered cattle thrown into the pulpit. This may not sound like much to the modern reader, but at the time it was an unspeakable outrage. When the British entered Philadelphia the population had fallen to about 10,000 inhabitants and over 600 homes were vacant. Loyalists began coming out of the woodwork, especially from the surrounding area, and soon Philadelphia took on a gaiety it had not exhibited before. With supplies flowing freely to the British from the “neutral” Quakers and Germans, Washington resolved to take the offensive and strike at Howe. An opportunity presented itself when Howe reduced his forces at Germantown to 8,000, and with counting militia among his effectives Washington would enjoy a numerical advantage it he struck hard at the Germantown garrison before Howe could provide reinforcements from Philadelphia.

!48 8. Battle of Germantown

On the 4th of October Washington attacked the British at Germantown. James was still in Clark’s Independent Artillery Company which was attached to General Lord Stirling’s reserve corps. Stirling’s corps contained Maxwell’s New Jersey Brigade and General Nash’s North Carolina Brigade in addition to Clark’s artillery and followed Washington and his staff down the Germantown High Road in the right-center of the army. This was expected to be the critical point since Washington had heavily weighted his left with two-thirds of his force to crush the British right. The plan was to pivot on Washington’s position and push the British into the Schuylkill River on his right with this giant left hook. Unfortunately the plan was overly complex and beyond the ability of the American army to execute effectively. Conway and Wayne opened the battle before dawn in front of Washington on the Germantown High Road without coordination with the left under General Nathaniel Greene. At that moment General Greene, having lost his way in the dark night, was more than a mile away from his planned point of attack. Nonetheless, the Pennsylvanians under Conway and Wayne pushed the center of the British line back and threatened to break through. Colonel Musgrave’s 40th British Regiment was nearly surrounded and ordered to take refuge in a large stone building, the Chew House or Cliveden, as it was named. Firing from the upper story windows, the British began to take a heavy toll on the Pennsylvanians who did not know enough to bypass the obstacle and keep on advancing. Washington considered leaving a regiment to seal off the house and continue with the attack, but General Knox, Washington’s Chief of Artillery, strongly opposed such action. He said, “It would be unmilitary to leave a castle in our rear.” Knox’s opinion prevailed and Washington resolved to capture the Chew House before continuing his advance. Colonel Proctor’s remaining two guns (he had lost all the others at Chadd’s Ford) were brought up as well as Maxwell’s Brigade and Clark’s attached company with its two six-pounders. Proctor and Clark moved to within musket range (50 yards) among the tall trees shading the house and grounds and began firing at the house. Unfortunately for the attacking troops, the front of the house was built of heavy, ashlar stonework that was two feet thick and the ground floor was actually four feet off the ground. Other than knocking the front doors off their hinges, the light artillery was ineffective. Clark and Proctor changed to grape shot to fire at the upper windows and two of Maxwell’s regiments bravely rushed the house. They were cut down with heavy casualties at point blank range. The front hallway was defended well from the doorways inside the house, and the ground floor windows were too high for the infantry to reach. Ten times the house was assaulted, and ten times the American attack failed. Maxwell’s men rushed up the stone steps only

!49 to be shot off the small porch. Smoke from the cannon obscured the scene and only the limited visibility saved the artillerymen from all becoming casualties at the extremely short range. The Chew House remained in British possession throughout the battle. The remainder of the battle went against Washington in spite of several successes and near successes. Greene’s main attack was tardy and coordination between the various attacking units was poor. Over time the American attack weakened and enthusiasm faltered until some of the units on the left broke and ran. Once again British discipline proved decisive and Washington’s army ultimately retreated back up their avenues of approach. The hero who saved Howe’s army was definitely Colonel Musgrave who ordered his regiment into the Chew House. The result was an American defeat, but Washington had come within an ace of a victory. Like after Brandywine, the army’s morale remained high in spite of its losses. Washington’s casualties were 152 killed (mostly in front of the Chew House), 521 wounded, and about 400 captured during the disorderly retreat. Howe has suffered 71 killed, 448 wounded, and about 60 missing. However, the British losses seem to be understated for all of the actions; Brandywine, Germantown, and miscellaneous skirmishes. For example, the British 4th Regiment officially suffered only 11 killed, 77 wounded and 3 missing. However, on October 24th, the regiment had only 112 fit for duty out of their recorded strength of 333 that began the campaign at Head of Elk. Somehow 129 men had become casualties that went unrecorded. The British Army could not afford to accept such losses while the Americans seemed to grow stronger rather than weaker with every defeat. James and his compatriots were wearing down the enemy. The army went into camp on a series of hills east of Whitemarsh Church and fifteen miles north of Philadelphia on November 2nd. It stayed there during the month of November while the fight for the Delaware forts took place. After heroic resistance and inflicting heavy casualties on the British attackers (killing Hessian Colonel von Donop at Red Bank in front of and blowing up the British 64-gun ship of the line Augusta and frigate Merlin) the American garrisons at Fort Mercer and were forced to evacuate. The Royal Navy finished clearing the Delaware River approaches to Philadelphia by destroying the few vessels on the river and Philadelphia was secure. Skirmishes between the light infantry of both sides took place almost daily, but James was not involved in these activities. Hunger again stalked the army, and all Congress could give the soldiers for Thanksgiving Dinner was two ounces of rice and a tablespoon of vinegar. Needless to say, there was a great deal of resentment towards politicians.

!50 9. Valley Forge, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard

By December 15th, Valley Forge had been decided upon as the site for the army’s winter quarters and on the 18th Washington issued orders for the construction of huts throughout the Valley Forge campsite. Provisions failed to arrive, and by the 22nd, the food situation had reached a crisis. On the 23rd Washington wrote to Congress that unless the commissary situation improved, his army must starve, dissolve, or disperse. The winter of 1777/8 was upon James and the men at Valley Forge in all its severity. James initially camped with the other artillerymen in the vicinity of the main artillery park to the southwest of Washington’s headquarters. But the arrival of von Steuben as acting Inspector General of the Army changed all that. The Baron Frederick William Baron von Steuben was somewhat of an imposter, claiming to be a Lieutenant-General in the Army of Frederick the Great. In reality he was a lowly captain without prospects and deeply in debt. Nevertheless, he favorably impressed , Congress and Washington, and soon rose to become one of Washington’s most trusted officers. All this was particularly remarkable since he spoke virtually no English and had to work through interpreters. Von Steuben immediately noted the sad condition of the Army, lack of discipline, and ignorance of all ranks to drill standards, regulations, tactics, and ability to maneuver in formation on command. It seemed to him the only battle commands were “get into a line abreast” and “get into a column of fours.” He recommended to Washington that his Guard be augmented into a model company that could be taught effective drill and tactics and then used to teach the remainder of the army. Washington immediately approved the idea and issued the following general order on March 17, 1778: “One hundred men are to be annexed to the Guard of the Commander-in-Chief, for the purpose of forming a corps to be instructed in the maneuvers necessary to be introduced in the army and serve as a model for the execution of them. As the General’s Guard is composed entirely of Virginians, the one hundred draughts are to be taken from the troops of the other states.” James was selected by Captain Clark to become a member of the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard and enrolled in this new model company. There is no information available concerning how the various officers made their selections—they might have selected bad soldiers to get rid of them or their best men as representatives of their companies. One would like to think the latter reason was dominant, but the selection of Elijah Fisher indicated that either reason might have been used in any particular unit. Private Fisher was nearly twenty years old when sent to the Guard as a replacement for another soldier in his company who wished to remain with his Rhode Island

!51 regiment. Fisher had seen action at Bunker Hill, the siege of Boston and the two battles at Saratoga, but was often sick and on leave. It is difficult to obtain a clear picture of his soldierly qualities. He served in the army from 1775 to April 10, 1781, and then aboard a privateer for a single voyage starting January 19, 1783 until captured by the British frigate Belisarius on February 13th, and was imprisoned in the hulk Jersey until released on April 9, 1783. Although Fisher was long-serving, his diary tends to depict an average soldier—but then he wasn’t his company’s first choice and might not have used his diary for his self-aggrandizement. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard, also called “Washington’s Lifeguard” was originally created on March 12, 1776 while Washington was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, conducting the siege of Boston. Washington specified that each of the Continental regiments at the siege should nominate four men for the Guard, all between five feet eight inches and five feet ten inches tall, well drilled, handsome and well built. Caleb Gibbs of Massachusetts was commissioned Captain of the Guard and George Lewis, a nephew of General Washington, was named as 1st Lieutenant. From the beginning it was considered an honor and particular distinction for a soldier to serve as a member of the Guard and supposedly they were selected for their patriotism and fidelity. From those nominated from the thirty-seven regiments in existence at the time of the formation of the guard, fifty men were chosen. In December 1776 before the Guard’s enlistments would expire, Washington discharged twenty men with the understanding they would re-enlist in Lieutenant Lewis’s troop of cavalry being formed at that time. The remainder agreed to stay six weeks longer to see Washington through the time until the army took up winter quarters. Those men were discharged around the 15th of February 1777 in Morristown. In April of 1777, Washington directed the guard be reconstituted by Captain Gibbs with four sergeants, four corporals, a drummer, fifer, and fifty privates for a total of sixty men. He also increased the height requirement to a minimum of five feet nine inches. This time the call went out only to Virginia regiments for four nominations from each regiment. The size of the Guard was lowered to two commissioned officers and fifty-six enlisted men by a general order dated April 30, 1777. On March 1, 1778, the Guard was reduced to forty rank and file still under the command of Captain Gibbs and Lieutenant Henry Livingston of New York, the son of Congressman Philip Livingston, who had replaced Lieutenant Lewis in December. Under the expansion for the creation of the model company authorized on March 17, 1778, the Guard consisted of a Captain, three Lieutenants, a surgeon, four sergeants, three corporals, two drummers, a fifer and one hundred and thirty-six privates. Captain Gibbs remained in command, and the three lieutenants were 1st Lieutenant Livingston, 1st Lieutenant Benjamin Grymes from Virginia, 2nd Lieutenant William Colfax of Connecticut (promoted to 1st Lieutenant on March 18, 1778). The surgeon was Samuel Hanson of Maryland, son of President of the Continental Congress, and James was one of the privates. Gibbs would eventually rise to Lieutenant Colonel by the end of the war,

!52 Livingston would become a captain in December, 1778, and resign in March of 1779, Grymes would resign in March of 1779, Colfax would transfer to the 5th Connecticut Regiment in 1781 and eventually be promoted to Captain, and Hanson would resign in March of 1779. The huts for the Guard were located immediately east of Washington’s headquarters at Valley Forge, and they drilled in the field to the south of the huts. Von Steuben began drilling the guard on March 19th with twice-a-day drills. He set an example for all ranks by taking a musket himself to show the men proper weapon handling and manual of exercise. He amused the men and onlookers constantly with his colorful curses delivered in a number of languages and soon became well-liked for his readiness to relate to the men. He taught James and his compatriots how to march, form in column, deploy into various formations for combat, and execute various maneuvers necessary to meet changing conditions on the battlefield. By April 2nd von Steuben was confident enough to put on an exhibition drill for general officers, brigade-majors and adjutants. By all accounts the exhibition was an astounding success and the Guard spent the next six weeks demonstrating and teaching the drills and maneuvers throughout the Army. Von Steuben’s maneuver techniques were simple but efficient using columns for movement and line formations for fighting. Skirmishers covered the columns while marching, and then moved through gaps in the line to reform behind as reserves. Volley fire was also achieved through strict manual of arms training and all units were taught effective techniques for bayonet use. Von Steuben found that Americans were a different sort of soldier as compared to Europeans –- he wrote one European officer that in the Prussian Army he would tell soldiers to do something and they would do it. In the American Army he needed to tell the soldiers why they needed to do something before they would do it. The first action involving James as a new member of the Guard took place on May 18th. Washington detailed over a hundred men from his Guard to General Lafayette to safeguard his person while on an expedition to perform a reconnaissance in force towards Philadelphia. Lafayette was to interdict any British foraging parties he might encounter. While it is not known if James was included in this detail, several of its soldiers were members of the model company including Elijah Fisher who joined the Guard in the levy that included James. Fisher left a detailed account of the expedition in his journal. “The 18th. One hundred and two of the Life guard and three thousands of the army was sent as a Detachment under the Command of the Right Honorable Maj. Gen. Delefialee (De Lafayette) and we marched to Barronhill Chirch and there we made a halt and Formed a line of battle and out guard Lay in the Front of the Party by the Gen. Marques Quarters. Sixteen miles from Valleyford. The 20th. This Morning at None of the Clock there Come Express to the General Quarters and brought Entelegence that the howl of Gen. How’s Army was Advansing upon us in three Colloms one Collom Coming in the senter to meet us one Collom up by Delwar river and through the Crooked Hills and so Crossing the Country towards Schoolkills River to Cute off our Retreat,

!53 the other striving to flank us on our right wing. The Nuse alarmed us Enstently and we took a road that lead to Jones’ Forde at Schoolkill river (for we were obliged to retreat Enstently) and the Enemy was so Nigh on our right flank that we Could see them Plain and our howl Party Crossed the river and the warter was up to our middle and run very swift so that we were obliged to hold to each other to keep the Current from sweeping us away and all in a fluster expecting the Enemy to fire upon us for we could see them Plain but the reason was they could not git thare Cannon to bare on us but we got all Safe across without the loss of any save fore of five of our party that the Enemy’s Lite horse Cut to pieces and out flanks killed three of there Lite Draghoons and four of there Granadears. After we had Crossed the river we Retired to the Gulf mills where we Remained till two in the afternoon and then we marched to Sweed’s ford and there stayed all Night after a March of twelve miles.” In more modern terms, Lafayette moved his detachment of 2,400 men midway between Valley Forge and Philadelphia and took up a position near Barren Hill Church. General Clinton, who had replaced General Howe as the British Commander-in-Chief, immediately sent out a substantial force in three columns to bag Lafayette. Lafayette was almost trapped, but after skillful maneuvering for two days he managed to extricate his command and return safely to Valley Forge. Lafayette lost only a very few men while inflicting a slightly greater loss on Clinton (total casualties for Lafayette were five as against Clinton’s seven.) The new maneuvering capabilities of the army had proven themselves almost immediately. The uniform for the enlisted men of the Guard was described by Godfrey in his The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard: “… the uniform of the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard consisted of a dark blue coat, collared, faced, cuffed and lined with buff; the bottom cut squared and full behind, with a fold at each back shirt; pocket flap on either side at the waist line; ten large gilt buttons on each lapel, four on each cuff, and four below each pocket flap; to button or hook as low as the fourth button on the breast, and so to be flaunted at the bottom. Vest red, high cut, single breasted with twelve smaller gilt buttons, and pocket flaps with four similar buttons below each; buckskin breeches fitting to the shape, with five small gilt buttons at the ankle, and strapped under black shoes; white bayonet and body belts; black stock and tie for the hair; and a black cocked hat bound with white tape.” Given the lack of provisions, clothing and other supplies at Valley Forge, it is likely that it took a long time for individual members of the guard to acquire a complete uniform. Most probably the new members like James continued to wear their homespun and buckskin clothing they had been wearing in their old regiments until early summer. Supposedly all of the Guardsmen were outfitted in their new uniforms in time for the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse.

!54 10. Battle of Monmouth Courthouse

On June 17th Clinton evacuated Philadelphia and began crossing the Delaware at Cooper’s Point and Gloucester Point. He had about 10,000 effectives, but was encumbered with 3,000 Loyalists – men, women, and children from Philadelphia who dared not remain when the city was re-occupied by the patriots. With his 1,500 wagon long train of supplies, booty and non-combatants stretching for twelve miles, Clinton’s marching speed was substantially slowed. Washington ordered his army to march out in pursuit. On the 18th, the Guard broke camp and marched over Doylestown to Coryell’s Ferry (now New Hope, Pennsylvania) where they crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey on the 21st. With Clinton moving slowly across New Jersey in order to protect the British wagon train, Washington stood a good chance to intercept Clinton’s force if the Continental Army marched with dispatch. On the 23rd,Washington detailed Captain Gibbs and eighty of his Guard, including James, to Daniel Morgan’s Rifle Regiment of 600 men, and ordered Morgan “to take the most effectual means of gaining the enemy’s right flank and giving them as much annoyance as possible in that quarter.” Morgan immediately set out on a long march across Clinton’s front to harass Clinton’s right flank and rear. The reason Washington assigned some of his Guard to Morgan was based on recent experience. Morgan had been roughly handled at Edge Hill, Pennsylvania, the previous December by Abercromby’s Light Infantry while Washington observed the battle. Washington had watched while the Light Infantry charged with the bayonet. The slow rate of fire by the riflemen and their lack of bayonets caused Morgan’s Corps to retreat in disorder. Washington correctly concluded that riflemen needed stiffening with regular troops armed with muskets and bayonets when not part of the main army. Therefore, Washington assigned his best troops, a portion of his Guard, to go with Morgan to provide that stiffening and firepower. The men Washington considered his best shock troops belonged to the “model” company that had been sent with Lafayette on his expedition. The rest of the Guard remained with Washington and the baggage. On the night of the 24th, the vanguard of Washington’s army under Lafayette camped at Cranbury, fifteen miles northwest Clinton’s camp at Allentown, New Jersey, and squarely athwart Clinton’s route to New Brunswick and New York. Washington had sent General Philemon Dickinson’s New Jersey militia of 800 men to harass Clinton’s left flank supported by Maxwell’s brigade that was felling trees and burning bridges in Clinton’s way and there was a good chance of engaging Clinton to Washington’s advantage. On the morning of the 25th, Clinton abandoned all thought of heading toward New Brunswick and New York over a land route (probably due to the harassment by Dickinson and the destruction of bridges and creation of obstacles by Maxwell) and turned to the northeast on the road

!55 from Allentown through Monmouth Courthouse and Middletown to Sandy Hook. This took Clinton’s main army away from Washington, whose main army was at Kingston on the 25th. With his advance force at Englishtown shadowing Clinton, Washington was forced to make a night march on the 25th, moving back to Cranbury and heading toward Monmouth Courthouse. By the evening of the 26th they were within five miles of the British camp at Monmouth Courthouse and within striking distance of the British Army strung out along its route of march. If Washington could gather together a solid striking force, Clinton’s army could be attacked and defeated in detail. Meanwhile, a detachment of Morgan’s riflemen under Captain Gabriel Long together with the accompanying Guard unit under Gibbs, encountered a company of British Grenadiers resting near Squaw Creek. In the skirmish that followed, the Guard attacked the exposed British troops, killing and wounding several Grenadiers and taking thirty-nine prisoners. The action threatened to become general when a regiment of British Light Infantry attacked to recover the prisoners. The Guard quickly withdrew, and with difficulty was able to escape with their prisoners through a muddy swamp to rejoin the remainder of Morgan’s command. Great fun was poked at the Guard by Morgan’s riflemen for ruining their brand new fancy uniforms in the mud. After a severe thunderstorm on the night of the 26th, both main armies rested on the 27th. Clinton sent out foraging parties while Morgan sent his prisoners back toward Philadelphia. Morgan was held at bay by the superior strength of the British Light Infantry and limited his activities to sniping. With his small force separated from the remainder of Washington’s army, Morgan was not able to significantly hinder Clinton movements. The heat was oppressive, and the next day it would reach about 105 degrees with high humidity. Another storm hit during the night of 27th, one even worse than the preceding night. On the 27th Washington ordered his van of about 5,000 men in General ’s division (Lee was also 2nd in command of the army) to attack Clinton’s rear immediately when the British Army began to move. Washington’s total strength on the day of the battle was given by the muster rolls as more than 13,000 men. Clinton started his van under von Knyphausen on the road to Middletown at three o’clock in the morning of the 28th, and Dickinson sent word to Washington, reaching both Lee and Washington at 5:00 AM. For whatever reason, Lee was unable to put his division on the move until after seven. In addition, he muddled the order in which his units should march, causing some confusion. Lee became even more hesitant when he was told the Clinton’s rear guard had not moved and he halted his attack. More confusion resulted as Lee’s division halted at least two more times and conflicting orders were issued. It was not until almost 11:00 AM when Lee was in sight of Monmouth and the British rear guard. They appeared to be in some disorder, and Lee finally ordered his division forward. Hearing the initial skirmishing, Clinton immediately ordered Cornwallis to deploy the entire rear guard of 2,000 men while he reversed the march of his center of about 6,000 men. Even before the British center began to appear, Lee timidity and excessive respect of British troops became

!56 evident when the rear guard formed up. The former British officer remarked to Lafayette who wanted to attack, “Sir, you do not know British soldiers; we cannot stand against them; we shall certainly be driven back at first and we must be cautious.” In the confusion some units fell back for various reasons, and soon the entire division was in retreat, more due to its officers than its men. At that point, about noon, Lee ordered his division back to the first of three defensive positions he had noted during his approach march. Finding that position flawed, Lee ordered the retreat to continue. Some units began to fall apart while others held their ground and retreated in good order. The numbers on both sides were now about equal, but Lee had effectively surrendered control of the battle to the British. At that point Washington rode forward having heard reports that the army was beaten. In a famous scene where Washington cursed out Lee in the presence of others, he relieved Lee, ordered a halt to the retreat and hurried up reinforcements. Inspired by Washington’s presence, the Americans held their ground, repelling all British assaults in the great heat, and forcing the British to retire at the end of the day. A defeat was avoided, but the great opportunity for a smashing victory had been squandered. Inexplicably, Morgan spent the day at Richmond Mills, on Squanbrook, one of the streams leading into Manasquan River three miles south of Monmouth Courthouse, where he could hear the raging battle. Supposedly he held his command ready to advance on the Continental southern or right flank, and awaited orders that never came. No inquiry was held after the battle, so apparently the fault did not lie with Morgan or Gibbs. Morgan sent a staff officer to the main army after the battle began on the 28th, who found General Anthony Wayne and asked for orders from General Charles Lee, still in command at that time. Wayne’s reply was that Morgan could see for himself that the American troops were “being drawn off” (in retreat) and that he should govern himself accordingly. Morgan wrote Washington and indicated he had been ordered to attack by General Lee: “General Lee wrote me yesterday, at one o’clock in the evening, he intended to attack the enemy’s rear this morning and ordered me to attack them at the same time on their right flank.” The note was dated June 29, the day after the battle, although it probably should have been dated the 28th. At General Lee’s trial, however, Lee denied having any contact with Morgan so no such orders could have been sent. A secondary source stated that Morgan received orders to rejoin the main army on the 28th, and he selected a route that took him further from the action rather than nearer (Stryker; 1899.) As the evidence is contradictory, Morgan’s very unusual inactivity was probably due to Wayne’s telling him that the army was retreating (which it was at the time) and deciding there was nothing to be gained by attacking with his 600 men. Certainly Morgan was one of the most aggressive American generals on the field, and it is difficult to imagine him refusing an order to attack under any circumstance.

!57 Washington intended to attack again on the morning of the 29th, but Clinton pulled out during the night and was well down the road to Middletown before Washington could pursue. Dickinson’s militia and Morgan’s regiment were the only formations to contest the British march as they pushed on to Sandy Hook. Neither was able to provide much effective skirmishing or hinder Clinton’s movements since they were out of supporting range by the main army. Washington very leisurely marched his army to New Brunswick, Paramus, and finally reached White Plains, New York on July 20th. The British reached Sandy Hook on July 1 and spent the next five days being transported by the Royal Navy to New York City. Morgan’s men with James’ detachment of the Guard were unable to move northwestward until Clinton reached Sandy Hook. They finally rejoined the main army at Scotch Plains about nine miles northeast of New Brunswick on July 7th. The Guard then remained at White Plains for two months, guarding Washington’s headquarters in the Miller House.

!58 11. Operations Around New York City

Towards the end of September 1778 Washington moved his headquarters and the Guard to Fredericksburg, now named Patterson, a small town in New York near the . In October a change was made in the Guard’s official uniform. The enlisted men were to have “… plain cutaway coat faced with buff to the waist line, with six large gilt buttons on each lapel and two on each cuff; buff vest, with similar small buttons; black cocked hat bound with buff; and white chitterlings and ruffles at the wrists.” (Godfrey: “The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard”) At the end of November the Guard marched to winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey by way of Peekskill, King’s Ferry, and Ramapo. They built their huts about four miles west of Middlebrook, next to the Wallace House which Washington had commandeered for his headquarters. After an uneventful winter at Middlebrook, the Guard moved with Washington to a succession of headquarters in New York during 1779; at Smith’s Clove in Orange County, New York, then to New Windsor, New York, and finally West Point. They returned to winter quarters at Morristown at the end of November. They built their huts on the meadows immediately south-east of the Ford House, which Washington used for his headquarters. James was not involved in any battles or skirmishes with the Guard in 1779, but in the winter of 1779/1780 would endure the harshest winter of all during the Revolutionary War punctuated with frequent alarms due to British foraging and raiding parties from New York City. The Guard itself may have experienced an uneventful 1779, but not James. He was ordered home to the Susquehanna River Valley to fight the Indians that were raising havoc on the Pennsylvania frontier. James would later write a report of his participation in this mini-campaign and for use in court to assist a neighbor’s application for a pension as well as applying himself for a separate land grant based on this assignment. Ultimately James was given three 100-acre grants, one for his service on the Quebec expedition, one for his enlistment in the Continental Army covering his time with the 12th Pennsylvania, Clark’s Independent Artillery Company and the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard, and one for this detached assignment to Middle/Northern Pennsylvania. He seems to have sold them immediately upon receipt, probably to speculators for very little money.

!59 12. Detached Service in Pennsylvania

James wrote that he was ordered by General Washington to this detached duty for six months beginning in March, 1779, but there is also a record in the Pennsylvania Archives that indicates Captains John Brady and Hawkins Boone, Lieutenants James Dougherty and Robert King were ordered home by General Washington to assist Colonel Hartley in protecting the West Branch valley of the Susquehanna at the same time. James mentions Captain Brady as commanding his detachment so that would indicate the 12th PA record refers to the same duty assignment. The notation that James was a lieutenant must either be an error or James assumed a temporary rank of lieutenant for some unknown reason. It is extremely doubtful that Washington would order a mere private in his Guard to accompany officers from the 12th PA Regiment on detached duty. It is probable that James was requested by Captain Brady for the special duty since he remembered him from the recruiting trip in 1776. Guard members were always subject to recall by their original units and possibly Brady was having difficulty finding volunteers to fight Indians. This command structure also was in effect for personnel actions like promotions. As was seen later in the case of Lieutenant Colfax, promotion in the Guard was very slow and probably due to its personnel being passed over by their controlling units. James remained a private throughout his eight years of service, and no doubt other soldiers in the 12th obtained promotions that James might have earned had he been present in the 12th’s ranks. Regardless of the circumstances of his assignment, James traveled in a party of seven men to Sunbury on the Susquehanna River. There he found his old commander, Matthew Smith, now a Colonel in the Pennsylvania Militia commanding militia forces on the Susquehanna River. He spent about a week at home with his wife and son, but after Captain Brady was killed about a mile east of Fort Muncy on April 11, 1779, the Indians north of Sunbury were emboldened to continue the raids that had been so successful in 1778. The Wyoming Valley settlements had been devastated during that time. James traveled to Fort Boone, a small stockade on Muddy Run about 600 yards from its mouth on the east side of the Susquehanna River and about two miles north of Milton, to take action against Indians who were committing depredations in Lycoming, Union and Northumberland counties. In command of the fort was Captain Hawkins Boone, a cousin of Daniel Boone, and one of the original company commanders of the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment. The British gathered a force of about 300 Oneida Indians and British rangers under the command of Captain John McDonald and moved down the West Bank of the Susquehanna River to burn the deserted Fort Muncy on the 27th of July. On the 28th they commenced a dawn attack on Fort Freeland, a weak stockade without cannon built in 1775 about a half-mile northeast of where

!60 Warrior Run Church now stands. Fort Freeland contained only twenty-one men capable of bearing arms, but sheltered a large number of women and children. Captain Lytle, in command of the fort, surrendered to McDonald at 9:00 AM under the condition that the fifty-two women and children and four old men would be allowed safe passage to Sunbury. At Fort Boone, only three miles south of Fort Freeland, the sound of the battle could be heard, and a relief party of thirty-three men was quickly assembled. It was commanded by Hawkins Boone, and included both Captain Samuel Dougherty and James. They arrived at Warrior Run about 11:00 o’clock, and attacked the Indians while they were celebrating their triumph. When Boone saw the fort starting to burn he ordered a retreat across the creek into the woods. James became entangled in vines in his dash for the creek, and was called upon by an Indian to surrender. He answered with curses and cut his way out with his hunting knife while his companions gave him covering fire from across the creek. Finally, he reached the other men safely, and they gave him a hearty cheer. The British and Indians steadily worked their way around the thickets and nearly surrounded Boone’s party. Seventeen men were killed, including Captain Hawkins Boone and Captain Dougherty. The rest escaped through the hazel bushes or were captured. Immediately after crossing the creek, Hawkins Boone had joined up was together with Sam Brady, James Hammond and James. A discussion ensued concerning how best to retreat, and the others warned Boone against keeping to the trail. Boone nonetheless opted to join most of the men on the trail and was killed while James, Brady and Hammond went into the woods and escaped. They reached Fort Boone and warned the remainder of its inhabitants that the post was untenable. The fort was immediately abandoned and everyone reached Sunbury safely. Colonel Smith organized a party of sixty men for the defense of the area and arrived at Sunbury on the 3rd of August. Other reinforcements poured in and Smith soon commanded over 500 men. James joined one of the advance parties and scouted all the way north to the Lycoming River, then turned east, and by a circuitous route, arrived at Berwick on the East Branch before returning to Sunbury. Along the way, James and his party fought several skirmishes and ambushes with Indians, killing about twenty while suffering only two wounded themselves. Smith marched north to the destroyed Fort Muncy with his large force, and then returned to Sunbury without accomplishing anything of note. McDonald and his force had already retreated back into New York and sent their captives on to Canada. By October, 1779, James returned to Washington’s Army and rejoined the Guard. The against the Iroquois had devastated the villages of the five nations during late August and September and forced the Indians to take refuge in Canada. For the moment James’ wife and child were relatively safe, and although the Iroquois returned to contest American westward expansion, never again were they a major day-to-day threat to the safety of settlers in central Pennsylvania.

!61 13. Back with the Guard

In November of 1779 The Guard moved again with Washington to Morristown, New Jersey for the winter. When Washington traveled, a detachment of the Guard always went with him to ensure his safety and provide for his creature comforts. In this respect, the Guard was responsible for transporting Washington’s large tent, his chest of dinner and personal items, and a custom-built wooden frame for his bed. Washington requisitioned the Ford mansion for his headquarters, and the Guard built eleven huts for enlisted men and three for officers directly across the road. Since the Ford mansion had limited kitchen facilities, the Guard built an addition to the structure, raising log walls and constructing a new roof. In the spring of 1780 the Guard was filled out again with additional draft to make up for its substantial losses due to desertion, discharges and deaths. These men were more or less only on temporary duty in the Guard, and Washington issued an order in July that returned them to their original units “on command” by their regiments. After surviving the worst winter of the war, the Army was in poor shape and remained inactive until June. Washington became increasingly concerned about the army’s lax security, particularly in the area of Elizabethtown where Continental outposts directly faced the British. Accordingly, he dispatched the Guard under Major Gibbs to Elizabethtown to buttress the American forces there and keep an eye on the British. On June 7th the British began an excursion into New Jersey by coming ashore at De Hart’s Landing at midnight and moving inland. Their intent was no less than an invasion of New Jersey in order to capture Springfield and surprise Washington at Morristown. Their stealthy approach was compromised by the Guard along New Point Road (current name) that detected the movement and opened fire. One of the first to fall was the British Brigadier General Thomas Stirling and the command of the British van fell to the Hessian Colonel Friedrich von Wurmb. While the British and Hessians were reorganizing and testing the Guard’s defense, the alarm was spread to the other American units in the area and back to Washington in Morristown. With only a first wave in New Jersey, the British under Hessian General von Knyphausen moved to build up their invasion force from Staten Island as quickly as possible, even though the campaign had gone wrong at the very beginning. Meanwhile, the Guard was bolstered with about 360 New Jersey militiamen under General Dickinson and Brigadier General William Maxwell’s New Jersey Brigade of 741 effectives. The British (mostly Hessians) moved forward to Connecticut Farms, pushing the Guard before them. At Connecticut Farms (present day Union) the British and Hessians encountered the full force of Americans, 1,250 men, and deployed to attack towards Springfield, the gateway to Short Hills and Morristown. The Americans formed their lines outside Connecticut Farms on two hillocks at the top of a ravine through which the west branch of

!62 the Elizabeth River flowed. The Hessians were repulsed in their first attempt to cross the river, but as the British force built up to 5,000 men the Americans withdrew to the west side of Connecticut Farms. The Hessians and neighboring Loyalists plundered and burned Connecticut Farms while the Americans continued to prevent the British from pushing further west. In mid-afternoon von Knyphausen learned that four Continental regiments were on their way to the battlefield and the militia had strengthened significantly. Steady rain soon turned into a full-blown storm, and by early evening the British army began its retreat to Elizabethtown. The Guard had suffered significant casualties in the battle that became known as Connecticut Farms, but the first British invasion of New Jersey in 1780 had been repulsed. Without the Guard’s presence and stout resistance, the surprise British move might well have been successful. On June 23rd von Knyphausen began a replay of the first invasion of New Jersey except this time he started from Elizabethtown and was immediately detected by militia pickets. He was held up by Maxwell’s Brigade again at the ravine east of Connecticut Farms, after which Maxwell retreated behind the Rahway River Bridge in front of Springfield. A stand at the bridge severely checked von Knyphausen, although he overcame the Continental resistance and entered Springfield. At that point von Knyphausen was ordered by Sir Henry Clinton to return to Elizabethtown. Harassed by both regulars and militia like on the retreat from Concord to Boston, the British raced back to Elizabethtown and crossed over to Staten Island. The twin battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield represented a significant American strategic victory for the British never again returned to New Jersey. The remainder of the summer was notable mainly for the Arnold treason at West Point, and the Guard marched back and forth in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut in along with Washington’s personal movements in dealing with the affair. Winter quarters were established in New Windsor, New York, on the Hudson between West Point and Newburgh, near the house of William Ellison, which became Washington’s headquarters. The winter was not particularly severe for the Guard, but the troops quartered at Morristown experienced a particularly difficulty time with no pay, limited rations and worst of all, no blankets or replacement clothing. On , 1781, some of the regiments of the Pennsylvania Line quartered at Morristown in the cantonment known as Mount Kemble mutinied. About 45 percent of the mutineers were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians born in Northern Ireland, and probably another fifteen percent were Scotch-Irish born in America. The Guard took no part is this mutiny or in the subsequent one of the . The mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line was resolved only with the greatest difficulty. It was a dangerous time with the mutineers marching on Philadelphia to present their demands to Congress, and the British attempting to subvert the mutiny to their own purposes. Over half of the Pennsylvania Line received discharges, but somehow Washington managed to hold the army together.

!63 In April of 1781 Major Gibbs left the Guard, leaving Lieutenant Colfax as the senior officer. The Guard still contained more than eighty men and would normally be commanded by a captain, but Lieutenant Colfax was not promoted until April, 1783 by his original regiment, the 2nd Connecticut, on whose rolls he had been maintained as being “on command” to the Guard. In July, Washington began moving the army towards Valentine’s Hill, four miles below King’s Bridge. He was proceeding with the Guard and a detachment of New England troops on July 3rd when he was surprised and fallen upon by a strong detachment of 1,500 British troops. The Guard was very roughly handled in the struggle, suffering over twenty percent casualties. It made a stand at the narrow bridge, holding the British off until Washington was well away from the action. After enduring several British bayonet attacks, the Guard withdrew in an orderly retreat to the main army at Valentine’s Hill. This battle, small but important to the Guard and dangerous to Washington, became known as King’s Bridge. The news of the French fleet’s sailing for the Chesapeake caused Washington to take advantage of the opportunity to bag Cornwallis, and on the 23rd of August, Washington left for Philadelphia with his Guard. On the 29th of September the Guard took up a position in the rear of the American Army next to Washington’s headquarters, and the began. The Guard suffered no casualties at Yorktown, and left with Washington on November 5, 1781, for Mount Vernon after the capitulation of Cornwallis and his army. Although the main army returned to Morristown for the winter, Washington and the Guard remained in Philadelphia. For once, James experienced relatively easy duty and received sufficient rations and supplies. In March, however, the Guard marched with Washington to Newburgh, New York, where they pitched their tents near Washington’s headquarters in the Hasbrouck House, located where the Liberty and Ann Streets cross today. Once again the army was relatively inactive for the summer except for the Guard having to receive General Rochambeau and endure his subsequent review at Verplanck’s Point on the Hudson River. In October the Army returned to New Windsor and the Guard camped again alongside Washington’s headquarters in Newburgh. According to the information contained in Godfrey’s work, James was granted a furlough of eight days from Newburgh, New York, on November 6, 1782, and again on December 6, 1782. Neither furlough would have given him sufficient time to see his wife and child in Pennsylvania, and not having been paid for many months, James’ resources would have meager. But the most curious entry is that James “deserted, February 1, 1783.” James himself swore in his application for a pension from the United States that he “continued to serve in said corps (1st PA Rifle Regiment), or in the service of the United States until the general discharge of the Army in the year 1783 when he was discharged from service in New York state.” However, the roster prepared by Lieutenant Colfax on June 4, 1783 of those eligible for indefinite furlough until ratification of the definite treaty of peace (the general discharge) lists sixty-four enlisted men, but not James. Curiously, the payment list for February 1783 contains only 62 enlisted men. Since no soldiers joined the Guard

!64 between February and June, the roster roll in June must reflect soldiers having returned from long furloughs. The general discharge was dated November 3, 1783, which James says he received, and it is likely that his pension application was checked concerning his discharge before being accepted. Possibly James went on a long furlough in February or had been once again placed on detached service and had not returned by June 4th. The evidence supporting this conclusion is that James stated under oath that he received the general discharge of November 3, 1783. A roster was made up in April, 1783 due to Washington’s arrangement with a private company, Melancthon, Smith & Co., which had agreed to advance the enlisted men of the Guard their pay for February 1783. This is the roster that shows James as deserting on February 1st, so he was not eligible for that advance. However, the Guard also had a group of “chasers”—men who hunted deserters and brought them back to the Guard for punishment. James’ name was not on their list between February 1st and June 3rd, so officially James was not being treated as a deserter by Lieutenant Colfax. James was not present in Newburgh on June 3rd when Colfax made up his list, and Colfax probably omitted his name since James’ status would have been dependent on his return as scheduled. Most likely James was notified by Sergeant Phillips of the indefinite furlough on his return to Newburgh during the summer. Phillips had remained on duty and was thus able to add James to the list for the November 3rd general discharge. It is also possible that James neglected to return to Newburg from his detached duty upon hearing that indefinite furloughs were issued on June 3rd. In that case he might not have been included in the general discharge in November, did not know he had been left off the list, and simply assumed he had been discharged along with the rest. It is noteworthy that James’ earlier detached service in 1779 was not indicated by the Guard’s rosters that simply omitted his name during the time of detached service. The difference in 1783 was that a payroll list was needed for the actual payment of an advance, and possibly the paymaster added the desertion notation so that Melancthon, Smith & Co., would not have to advance James’ February pay with the others. In any case, James’ “desertion” must remain speculative and improbable based on a close review of the evidence. Nonetheless, it is clear James felt his service to have been honorable and deserving of a pension.

!65

14. Civilian Life after the War

Following James’ discharge from the Continental Army he returned to the Susquehanna River valley and by 1790 had moved with his wife and small son to the vicinity of Milton, Northumberland County, which later became included in Union County. It is possible they lived for a while in Chambersburg, since his son John is recorded as having been born there in 1788. James’ later application for a pension showed that he was a farmer, probably either a tenant farmer or squatter, constantly in debt and having to struggle to raise his family. Apparently he and his wife Jane took some time before adding to the family, since his second son William was not born until 1788, and was then followed rapidly by John and Elizabeth. There may have been more children, but these four lived into adulthood, marrying and having children. Several documents state that James fathered four children who all married. James Junior was the son born either in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1775 before James Senior enlisted in the Continental Army, or in Ulster before his parents departed for Pennsylvania. Most likely the Lancaster place and date are correct since his age was given as 97 years old when he died on July 30, 1872 in Steubenville, Ohio. About 1813, he married Mary Hawkins, who was the daughter of William G. Hawkins and Jane Wilson of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Mary Hawkins was born about 1794 in Westmoreland County and died in 1854 in Steubenville. There is evidence that James Junior lived for a time in Westmoreland County, then moved with his wife to Washington, Pennsylvania, and then to Steubenville, Ohio prior to 1813. The only child known of this union was George Wilson Dougherty, born in 1813 in Steubenville. James became a well-known tailor in Steubenville, and he trained his son George to be a tailor also. William was born about 1786 and also moved to Steubenville sometime in the 1800s. William and James operated a dry goods, carpet, and tailoring business on the northeast corner of 3rd and Market Streets from 1825 to 1840. John was born June 2, 1788 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and married Jane Mitchell. They produced at least six children including John L., William, James, Joseph, Samuel and Priscilla, who later became the first wife of her first cousin George Wilson Dougherty. Sons Joseph and Samuel became prominent in Ohio and biographical sketches of them are available in “History of Coshocten County, Ohio”: Newark, Ohio; 1881. Elizabeth was born about 1790 and married Robert S. Vanatten. She and John petitioned the Pennsylvania Court of Center County to have her father James stricken from the Revolutionary War rolls following James’ death in 1849 to stop the receipt of further pension payments. James Junior appeared as a witness on this document.

!66 James moved a number of times in life, generally migrating westwards in Pennsylvania. He initially lived in Lancaster County, then in Chambersburg, Cumberland County (at the time.) He was recorded as living in the vicinity of Milton, Northumberland County in 1790 (which became Union County in 1813), Bald Eagle Township, Centre County in 1814, and Venango County in 1840. The area of his home in Centre County in the Bald Eagle Creek Valley near modern Mill Hall became part of Clinton County in 1839, but he probably had already moved to Venango before that occurred. His son John and daughter Elizabeth swore he had lived in Venango County for twenty- three years before his death, so apparently he moved to Venango in 1825. He died on January 15, 1849, in Franklin, Venango County. He was 97 years old at the time of his death, and according to research performed by Arthur Lefkowitz was the next to last living member of Arnold’s expedition to Quebec. James was living in 1840 in Plum Township, Venango County with his son John, probably because he had lost his wife Jane that same year, as given in some sources. Another recorded date for Jane’s death is 1846, but such longevity is doubtful since James contended she was already a cripple in 1806. Even for Jane to survive until 1840 and die at age 84 would have been remarkable. In 1840 Plum Township listed three Dougherty families as residents, two of which were headed by men named John. Given names in all three families are similar, and it is possible they were related. If so, this would indicate that James either had other siblings who came to Pennsylvania as he did, or perhaps they were nephews. Since no siblings have been confirmed for James, either assumption must remain speculative. Nonetheless, for James to move from Centre County 160 miles west to a remote area in Venango County (Plum Township contains the modern tiny towns of Sunville, Wallaceville, Chapmanville, Bradleytown, and Diamond) could be readily explained if other relatives were already there. James was granted a Revolutionary War pension from the State of Pennsylvania in 1814 in the amount of $40.00 per year. He also received three land grants of 100 acres, one for participating in the Quebec expedition, one for his detached service in Pennsylvania in 1779, and one for his service in the 12th PA Regiment, Clark’s Independent Artillery Company and the Commander-in- Chief’s Guard. In March 1818 Congress passed the Pension Act to provide a life pension of twenty dollars per month for officers and eight dollars for enlisted men “…who served in the War of the Revolution until the end thereof, or for the term of nine months … in the continental establishment” and who needed the assistance of their country. All applicants were required to go before a court in their locality and provide a summary of their service along with a sworn statement of their need for assistance. James applied in Centre County for a pension under this law and was granted the sum of eight dollars per month by the War Department later in 1818. A Certificate of Pension was issued on April 23, 1819 and sent to Charles Huston, Esquire, of Bellefonte, PA, the county seat of Centre

!67 County. The records indicate that payment did not begin until September 4, 1819, at which time James was owed an arrearage of $106.83. By 1820 there was widespread feeling in Congress that many of the pensions had been granted to applicants who either did not meet the service requirements or were not in such reduced circumstances that they needed government assistance or subsistence. Accordingly, an amendatory act was passed in May of 1820 requiring all persons receiving pensions to return to their court of jurisdiction and submit sworn statements of income and owned property. A judge would examine the evidence, calling witnesses if necessary, and forward the findings of the court to the War Department for final adjudication. As a result of this process, many former Revolutionary War soldiers were stricken from the pension rolls. James appeared in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas in August of 1820 and pled his case (see his statement in “Documents.”) He not only restated his Revolutionary War record, but also provided full information on his financial status in order to retain his Revolutionary War Pension. The court found that he and his wife were indeed living in reduced circumstances and forwarded their findings to the War Department. As a result, James's pension of eight dollars per month continued until he died in 1847. In his pleading it is clear that James Dougherty lived in reduced circumstances and badly needed his pension. He had apparently sold his land grants, lived in a rural environment as a tenant farmer or squatter, and was barely scraping by. Since James did not list any arrearage owed him on the Federal pension, he had either already spent the money or the Government was refusing to pay anything until these newly required documents were processed. There is evidence that the former was true, since other pensioners such as Jeremiah Greenman received their pension payments beginning in 1819, even though Greenman was subsequently stricken from the rolls because his 1820 documents did not indicate sufficiently severe “reduced” circumstances. In 1820, James Junior and William Dougherty were already living in Steubenville, Ohio, and it is possible that John and Elizabeth already lived in Venango County. The 1840 census shows James living with his son John in Plum Township, Venango County but Elizabeth does not appear in the records until 1847. John and Elizabeth settled James’ affairs after his death in 1847 in Franklin, the county seat of Venango County, and provided the appropriate certifications through a lawyer, William H. Lamberton, to remove James from the pension roll. They even repaid the money received after James’ death, $34.84, through attorney Lamberton to the Federal Treasury on October 19, 1847. A James Dougherty appears as a witness to these documents, but it is not known whether this James is James Junior or another James Dougherty from one of the other Dougherty families in Venango County. From the documents it can be seen that both John and James Dougherty were literate, while Elizabeth and her husband Roger Vanatten were not.

!68 There is also a will proved for a James Dougherty in 1819 that appears to be correct for James Senior, but no probate records from 1847 have yet been found. In any case, it is doubtful that James left much more than memories to his children. Of interest is that the Dougherty line was surprisingly long-lived. James Senior lived 97 years in spite of the hardships he endured during the Revolutionary War. James Junior also lived 97 years. James Junior’s son George Wilson lived 84 years and fathered his last child (of twelve children) at age 60. George Wilson’s son Ralph Louis was killed in an automobile accident at age 66 and was in good health at the time, and Ralph Louis’ son Ralph Pemberton died two days short of 92.

Genealogy Chart

1 – John O’Dougherty + Sarah MacDonnell 2 – John O’Dougherty, b 1685, Londonderry, Ulster, Ireland, d 1743 + Sarah O’Neill, 1718, Londonderry, Ulster, b 1686, Antrim, Ulster, daughter of Ambrose O’Neill 3 – William O’Dougherty, b 1718, Antrim, Ulster, Ireland + Susan McDevitt, b 1722, Antrim, Ulster 4 – James Dougherty, b 12/25/1749, Antrim, Ulster, d 1/15/1847, Franklin, Venango County, PA + Jane Lawson, 1771, Antrim, Ulster, b 1756, Antrim, Ulster, d 1840, Venango County, PA, daughter of John Lawson & Margaret O’Brien 5 – James Dougherty, b 1775, Lancaster County, PA, d 7/30/1872, Steubenville, OH + Mary Hawkins, b abt 1794, Westmoreland County, PA d 1854 Steubenville, OH, daughter of William Hawkins & Jane Wilson 6 – George Wilson Dougherty, b 6/16/1813, Steubenville, OH, d 6/23/1897, New Philadelphia, OH + Priscilla Dougherty, 3/24/1842, Coshocton County, OH, b 9/10/1824, Coshocton County, OH, d 1847 in childbirth, Jefferson County, OH, daughter of (5) John Dougherty & Jane Mitchell 7 – Two Children died in infancy bef 1847 7 – Emma, b 1847, d 17 days later + Aletice Myers, 1/24/1848, Jefferson County, OH, b abt 1831, d bef 1858 7 – Mary E., b 1848, New Philadelphia, OH, d 1868-1882 m John Styninger, 10/24/1868 7 – Emma, b abt 1852, New Philadelphia, OH, d infant 7 – Laura P., b abt 1854, New Philadelphia, OH, d CA m John Styninger, 7/30/1882 + Sarah Jemima Clark, 7/25/1858, b 3/9/1830, Jackson County, OH, d 10/4/1919, New Philadelphia, OH, Daughter of Justin Clark & Mary Minnich 7 – Bertha Clark, b 6/16/859, New Philadelphia, OH, d 1934, Muskegon, MI

!69 7 – Mary E., b 3/20/1862, New Philadelphia, OH, d bef 1919, m Steve Revere 7 – George Goodloe, b 3/3/1864, New Philadelphia, OH, d CA, children Fred C. & Robert B 7 – Annie Laurie, b 12/20/1866, New Philadelphia, OH, m M.C. Blum 7 – Justan, b 6/14/1870, New Philadelphia, OH, d Stockton, CA, m Cora, children Lois & Betty 7 – Ralph Louis, b 12/23/1873, New Philadelphia, OH, d 4/12/40, Muskegon, MI (killed in auto acc) + Lucy Ellen Harding 6/4/1898, b 4/24/1875, Derby, KS, d 1/13/1958, Muskegon, MI, daughter of William Henry Harding & Sarah Louisa Parks 8 – Helen Sarah, b 5/12/1900, Atlanta, IN, d 4/18/1909, Muskegon, MI 8 – Marguerite, b 3/1/1902, Muskegon, MI, d 12/3/1992, North Muskegon, MI, m Omar P. Stelle, 1928, Chicago, IL 8 – Edward Harding, b 11/16/1903, Muskegon, MI, d 6/8/1986, Ferndale, MI, m Vyola McMahan, 10/1/1931, Mountain Home, AR 8 – Frank Templeton, b 8/1/1905, Muskegon, MI, d 8/5/1972, Dearborn, MI, m Olga Kasimirov 7/15/1942, New York, NY 8 – Ralph Pemberton, b 3/21/1907, Muskegon, MI, d 3/19/1999, Atlanta, GA, m Emma Jane Sproat, 11/30/1933, Vincennes, IN 5 – William, b abt 1786, PA, d Steubenville, OH 5 – John, b 1788, Chambersburg, PA, d 11/6/1870, Coshocton, OH, + Jane Mitchell, b 2/26/1794, PA, d 11/26/1869, Coshocton, OH 6 – James, b abt 1819, Coshocton, OH 6 – Priscilla, b 9/10/1820, Coshocton, OH, d 1847, Jefferson County, OH + George Wilson Dougherty, 3/24/1842, Coshocton, OH 7 – see above under (6) George Wilson Dougherty 6 – Samuel, b 7/2/1826, Coshocton, OH 6 – John, b 1829, Coshocton, OH 6 – William, b 1833, Coshocton, OH 5 – Abel, b 1790, PA, m Catherine, relation not proven. 5 – Some sources give three more children, Susan, Francis & Patrick, all born 1790-1794, but James himself stated in 1820 that he only had four children as above.

!70 Documents

List of Documents:

I Original Application for Pension, 1818

II Certificate of Pension, 1819

III Second Declaration for Pension, 1820

IV File Folder for Pension Records

V Documents sent to War Department after James’ Death, 1847

Spelling, punctuation and capitalization are as contained in the original documents.

!71 (I) Original Application by James Dougherty for his Pension (David Library)

District of Pennsylvania, ss

On this twenty-fifth day of August, 1818, before me the subscriber, Resident Judge of the fourth judicial district of the Court of Common Pleas of the State of Pennsylvania James Dougherty aged fifty nine years, resident in Centre County in the said district, who being by me first duly sworn, according to law, doth, on his oath, make the following declarations, in order to obtain the provision made by the late act of Congress, entitled “An act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the revolutionary war.” That he the said James Dougherty enlisted in Lancaster County in the state of Pennsylvania in the company commanded by Captain Matthew Smith of the first Rifle Regiment; that he continued to serve in the said corps, or in the service of the United States until the general discharge of the Army in the year 1783, when he was discharged from service in New York state of New York, that he was in the battles of Quebec of Brandywine Germantown & Monmouth & at the siege of York – and that he is in reduced circumstances, and stands in need of the assistance of his country for support; and that he had no other evidence now in his power of his said services.

Sworn to and declared before me, the day and year aforesaid.

C Huston

I, Charles Huston Judge Esq, as aforesaid, do certify, that it appears to my satisfaction, that the said James Dougherty did serve in the revolutionary war, as states in the preceding declaration, against the common enemy; and I now transmit the proceedings and testimony taken and had before me, to the Secretary for the Department of war, pursuant to the directions of the aforementioned act of Congress. I further certify that the claimant is in indigent circumstances – I have known him personally for more than ten years last first.

C Huston (SEAL)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Centre County

(SEAL) I John Rankin Prothonotary of the Court of the Common Pleas, in and for the county of Centre aforesaid, Do certify, that Charles Huston Esquire, before whom the foregoing declaration appears to have been made and who certifies the same, was at the time of subscribing the same, and now is the Resident Judge of the fourth judicial district in and for the State of Pennsylvania after duly commissioned and sworn, and that full faith & credit are due, and aught to be given, to all his official acts as such, as well in Court of Justice as elsewhere in Testimony, whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and the said County seal at Bellefonte the 28th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

!72 John Rankin Proth

!73 (II) Certificate of Pension (David Library)

War Department

Revolutionary Claim

I CERTIFY That, in conformity with the Law of the United States, of the 18 of March AD

(illegible)

James Dougherty late a Private in the Army of the Revolution -----

Is inscribed on the Pension List, Roll of the Pennsylvania Agency, at the rate of eight dollars ----- cents Per month, to commence on the twenty-fifth day of August one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

Given at the War Office of the United States, this twenty third day of April one thousand eight hundred And nineteen. (SEAL) J C Calhoun

!74 III Second Declaration made by James Dougherty for Pension, 1820

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Centre County Court of Common Pleas 4th Judicial District 28th August 1820

On the twenty eighth day of August, A.D. 1820 personally appeared in open court, being a Court of record by the laws of the United States for the said County of Berks, James Dougherty aged seventy years last Christmas, resident in the Township of Baldeagle in the Said County, who being duly sworn according to law on his oath doth declare that he served in the Revolutionary War as follows – on the 25th day of June 1775 he enlisted as a volunteer under the Command of Captain Arthur Smith who was under the command of Col Thompson for Boston, there stationed for some times, then Marched for Quebeck by the way of Kennebeck and Chadaire through the district of Main under the command of Col Benedict Arnold; that about the thirten of November he arrived on the plains of Abraham before ten oclock where he remained until the arrival of Genl Montgomery – That he was engaged in the storming of the Garrison on the night of the 31st of December and next Morning being the first day of January A.D. 1776 he was taken prisoner and feet in Irons and was continued in that situation for eight weeks; that the 5th day of August in the year 1776 an Agreement was entered into between the American Officers and Genl Carlton in which it was Thereinstated that we should sign a parole which the prisoners did in the words following; ----

Parole

“We the undersigned do solemnly engage to his excellency Genl Carlton that we will not take up arms against nor do any thing injurious to his majesty King George Third until regularly exchanged.”

There further he saith that he enlisted in the fall of 1776 notwithstanding the aforesaid parole in the 12th Regiment under Capt John Brady in Philadelphia commanded by Col William Cook, and was called out on a recruiting party to Muncy in Northumberland County, & Marched in the Spring of 1777 for Camp in Jersey at Metachem near to Quibletown and some time in May, was in the battle of the Short hills and then joined the Main Army at Middle Brook and was drafted into Captain Clarks Company in the artilery and was in the battle of Brandywine on the 11t of September 1777 & also in the Battle of Germantown and then moved to winter quarters at the Valley Forge and remained there until March following and there drafted into Genl Washington’s life guards, was at the battle of Monmoth, was at the taking of Lord Cornwallis at York town in Virginia and remained in the service until final discharge at New York ------

That in pursuance of his declaration made before Judge Walker on the 25th day of August 1818 he is as placed on the pension list, of which he received a certificate from the war department

!75 dated the twentythird day of April A.D. 1819, No 9,570 in conformity with the law of the United States of the 18t March 1818 -----

Since I solemnly declare that I was a resident Citizen of the United States on the 18th day of March 1818 and that I have not Since that time by gift, sale, or in any manner disposed of my property, or any fract thereof, with intent thereby so to diminish it, as to bring myself within the provisions of the act of Congress entitled “An act to provide subsistence for any engaged in the army or naval service of the United States in the Revolutionary War passed on the 18th day of March 1818 and that I have not nor have any person in trust for me any property as (illegible), contracts or debts due to me nor have any income other than what is contained in the Schedule hereto annexed and by me Subscribed

Being 1 Mare – 10 dols – 2 cows each $8.00 $26.00 1 Bull $6.00 – 1 Heiffer $ calf – 4.00 10.00 2 Sheep 1.50 – 6 (illegible) 5.00 6.50 1 Saddle & Bridle 6.00 – 1 old Table – 75 - 50 6.75 3 Chairs old & one old chest 1.00 – 2 old pots & Bake Kettle 1.50 1 sett English drawers 0.25 – 5 plates 0.25 .50 1 Doz Knives & forks 0.50 – 1 old China & 2 Buckets .75 1.25 1 Iron Tub – 0.75 – 6 pewter table spoons 0.40 1.15 1 Looking Glafs 0.50 – 1 Spinning wheel 1.00 1.50 1 Hand Saw – 1.00 – 1 old vise, Spade & Shovel 1.00 2.00 ------$57.15 Also a pension from the State of Pennsylvania for the sum of forty dollars per year in pursuance of an act of the legislature of Pennsylvania passed 28 March 1814.

A list of debts of the aforesaid James Dougherty To Jos Baitter (illegible) ------$54.75 “ Geo. Brefsler - - - 40.00 “ Jos Brown - - - 8.39 “ Judgment Wm White Esqr Docket 13.74 “ John Ritch - - - - 5.30 “ Adam Hipeshon - - - 7.35 “ Isaac Taylor - - - 4.15 “ Michael Quigley ------5.56 ------$139.24

Centre County Jr:

James Dougherty being duly sworn doth depose and say that the above list of debts due by him and of the debts due him are just and true. !76 James Dougherty Sworn and Subscribed in open Court the 18th Augt 1820 Before Jn Rankin Prost

I have no trade old and infirm has a wife who has been a cripple this fourteen years, aged seventy years, four children who are married and do not live with us, and are not in situations by which they could contribute to my support.

Sworn and Subscribed the 18th day of August 1820 Before Jn Rankin Proth in open court -----

James Dougherty

The Court is of the opinion that the total amount in value of the property exhibited in the aforesaid schedule is fifty seven dollars & fifteen cents exclusive of the forty per year from the State of Pennsylvania, and it also appears from the Schedule that the applicant is considerably in debt – By the Court 21 August, 1820.

Centre County Jr

I John Rankin Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas in and for Centre County Do hereby certify that the foregoing oath and the schedules thereby annexed are truly copied from the records of the said court, that the total amount in value of the property in the aforesaid schedule is fifty Seven dollars and fifteen cents, & I do further certify that it is the opinion of the court that the valuation is correct.

In testimony thereof I have Hereunder set my hand and affixed the seal of the said Court on this twenty eighth day of August A.D. 1820.

Jn Rankin Proth.

!77 (IV) File Folder for James Dougherty’s Pension Records (National Archives)

9,570 Pennsylvania

James Dougherty of Centre Co in the state of Pennsylvania who was a Private in the regiment commanded by Colonel (overwritten) Mth Smith of the (overwritten) Penn 1st Rifle Regt O (illegible) line, for the term of 6 years – War

Inscribed on the Roll of Pennsylvania at the rate of Eight Dollars per month, to commence the 25t of August 1818

Certificate of Pension issued the 23d of April 1819 and sent to Chas Huston, Esqr Bellefonte, Pa.

Arrears to 4th of March 1819 – 7 11/31 58.83 Semi-anl. all’ce ending 4t Septr 1819 40.00 ======$ 106.83

Revolutionary claim Act 18th March, 1818

File Safe ’19 Container Centre County

Notification sent November 11, 1820 to John Rankin, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

!78 (V) Documents Sent to War Department by James and Elizabeth Dougherty Following James’ Death (National Archives)

State of Pennsylvania Venango County

Be it known that before us R Beaty a Justice of the Peace in and for the County Aforsaid formally appeared John Dougherty and Elizabeth Vanatten, and made oath in Clear form of law that they Are the Children (Son and daughter) of James Dougherty the identical person who has a pension, and is now dead, And to (illegible) A Certificate of Pension was paid, of which the following is a true Copy:

War Department Revolutionary Claim

“I certify that in conformity with the law of the United States of the 18th of March 1818, James Dougherty, late a private in the Army of the Revolution is inscribed on the Pension list. Roll of the Pennsylvania Agency at the rate of Eight Dollars – cents, per month to commence on the twenty- fifth day of August, One Thousand Eight hundred And Eighteen”

Seal of the “Given at the War office of the United States War Office This Twenty third day of April, One thousand Of U S Eight hundred And Nineteen” J C Calhounn

That the deceased pensioner resided in Venango County, State of Pennsylvania, for the Span of Twenty three years before his death. And That previous thereto resided in Centre County State of Pennsylvania.

From a (illegible) this John Dougherty 18th day of September her 1847 Before us Elizabeth D Vanatten mark R Beaty J.P. James Dougherty Witness

Know all men by these Presents That we John Dougherty and Robert Vanatten and Elizabeth his wife (Said John and Elizabeth – formerly Elizabeth Dougherty – being Children of James Dougherty (illegible) revolutionary Pension of the United States, deceased of the County of Venango and State of Pennsylvania, do hereby Constitute and appoint William N. Lamberton our !79 true and lawful Attorney for us and in name to receive from the Agent of the United States for paying pensions in Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania the balance of Said Pension from the 4th day of September AD 1846 to the fifteenth day of January AD 1847 being the day of his death. Witness our hand and Seals this 13th day of September AD 1847

Sealed and delivered John Dougherty (Seal) In presence of his Robert S Vanatten (Seal) R. Beaty mark James Dougherty her Elizabeth D Vanatten (Seal) mark

State of Pennsylvania Venango County (Seal) Be it known that on the 13 day of September AD 1847 before this Subscriber, a Justice of the Peace in and for Said County personally appeared John Dougherty and Robert Vanatten and Elizabeth his wife, above named, and (illegible) on the foregoing power of Attorney to be their Act and deed. By testimony whereof I have hereinto Set my hand and Seal this day and year last prior mentioned.

R. Beaty J.P.

State of Pennsylvania Venango County (Seal) I George W Connely Prothonotary and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County aforesaid do certiy that Robert Beaty Esq before whom the foregoing power of Attorney was taken was then and now is an acting Justice of the Peace for Said County, duly (illegible) and Sworn and to Whose official Acts full faith and Credit are due, And I further Certify that the foregoing Signatures are genuine. Given under my hand and Seal of Office at Franklin this 13th day of September AD 1847. Geo W Connely Esq

State of Pennsylvania Venango County I George W. Connely, Prothonotary and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas (illegible) at Franklin in and for Said County Do hereby certify that Satisfactory evidence has been exhibited to Said Court that James Dougherty was a pensioner of the United States at the rate of eight dollars per month And a resident of the County of Venango in the State of Pennsylvania, And died in the Said County and State on this fifteenth day of January AD 1847 that he left (illegible) two Children, whose names are John Dougherty And Elizabeth interacting with Robert Vanatten. In

!80 testimony whereof I have hereunto Set my hand And Affirmed my Seal of Office at Franklin this thirteenth day of September In the year of Our Lord One thousand Eight hundred And forty Seven.

Geo W Connely Esq

Notes

1. Genealogy and Background

James Dougherty’s ancestor information comes mainly from the Clann O’Dochartaigh archives in Bucrana, Ireland. The presentation of Irish and O’Dougherty history was extracted mainly from the Clann O’Dochertaigh newsletters “Ar nDuthcas”, MacManus, The Story of the Irish Race, Connolly, Oxford Companion to Irish History and Tanner, Ireland’s Holy Wars. The effect of Cromwell’s and William’s campaigns came from Murphy, Cromwell in Ireland, A History of Cromwell’s Irish Campaign, and Doherty, The Williamite War in Ireland, 1688-91. Sources for the numbers of Scotch-Irish immigrants to the US include Phillips, The Cousin’s Wars and Marshall, Ulster Sails West. The persecution of the Presbyterians in Northern Ireland is covered well in Glasgow, The Scotch-Irish in Northern Ireland and the American Colonies. Scotch-Irish life in Pennsylvania is depicted rather thoroughly in Bolton, Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America. The term “Scotch-Irish” was used throughout this work due to its historical usage although more properly the people should have been called “Scots-Irish.” Supposedly “Scotch” is not a designation of the people and its use should be limited to a type of whiskey according to many Scots. However, it has been in general usage in America (although not in the United Kingdom) to describe the Ulster Presbyterians, thus including the converted Doughertys, since at least its first recorded use in 1695 to describe the numerous Scotch-Irish settlers in Maryland. James Leyburn in his work The Scotch-Irish: A Social History erroneously fostered the myth that the term was artificially constructed in the 1840s by the Scotch-Irish themselves to disassociate themselves from the Catholic Irish then arriving in such great numbers. In actually, the term was in general use from the early 1700s. For a discussion of indentured servitude, see Hoffman, They Were White and They Were Slaves.

2. Service in the Continental Army

The information concerning the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment came from the Pennsylvania Archives as did the numbers of Doughertys in Continental Army service. James’ record of service in the Revolutionary War came from the National Archives as well as his pension application. The information on Matthew Smith came from The Northumberland County Historical Society, and although many sources mention the Paxton Boys and their massacre of the Conestoga Indians, the best is Kenny, Peaceable Kingdom Lost. The march to Boston is given in Captain Hendricks’ Journal, although it was probably written by his company clerk, Sergeant McCoy, as it contains an !81 entry after Hendricks’ death. That the Revolutionary war on the patriot side was dominated by Scotch-Irishmen comes from Phillips, The Cousin’s Wars, and many other sources including Marshall, Ulster Sails West.

3. The Quebec Expedition

The story of the march to Quebec has a relatively limited number of primary sources, many of which are included in Kenneth Roberts’s, March to Quebec. All of these sources are valuable, including Colonel Benedict Arnold’s Journal, Colonel Arnold’s Letters, Captain Henry Dearborn’s Journal, Major Return J. Meig’s Journal, Dr. Isaac Senter’s Journal, Captain Simeon Thayer’s Journal, John Joseph Henry’s Journal, Caleb Haskell’s Journal George Morison’s Journal, Abner Stocking’s Journal, Simon Fobes’ Journal, Ephraim Squire’s Journal, Defense of Roger Enos, and John Pierce’s Journal. To that must be added the journal by Captain William Hendricks (written by Sergeant McCoy), and Diary of a Common Soldier in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 by Jeremiah Greenman. The only one mentioning James Dougherty is that by John Joseph Henry, a private with James in Smith’s Company, who mentions James twice. Interestingly enough, Roberts does not cite and give credits appropriately – evidently literary law was not as advanced in 1938 as it is today. As an example, Simeon Thayer’s Journal was published in the book, The Invasion of Canada in 1775 by Edwin M. Stone in 1867, and Henry’s journal, dictated to his daughter shortly before his death, was published as An accurate and interesting account of the Hardships and Sufferings of that Band of Heroes, Who Traversed the Wilderness in the Campaign against Quebec, in 1775, by Lancaster publisher William Greer in 1812. Three secondary sources are useful, Smith’s Arnold’s March from Cambridge to Quebec, Codman’s Arnold’s Expedition to Quebec, and a modern work by Lefkowitz, Benedict Arnold’s Army. Morrissey’s Quebec 1775 is inaccurate and Desjardin’s Through a Howling Wilderness is a montage of the first person narratives written for popular appeal.

4. The Battle for Quebec

In addition to the sources for the march to Quebec, Randall’s Benedict Arnold provided useful information as did McConkey’s The Hero of Cowpens, a sketch of Daniel Morgan, and Leake’s Memoirs of the Life and Times of General John Lamb. There is a continuing debate over the date of the attack as some sources (such as Greenman) give the night of the attack as December 31, 1775. That means the troops would have formed up late on the 31st, and attacked at 4:00 AM on January 1, 1776. This must be an error as the three New England companies would not have refused to take part since their enlistments were up at midnight on the 31st. Most historians have resolved this conflict by saying the attack was formed on the night of the 30th and took place in the morning hours of the 31st. So the fighting took place on the 31st, and since it was daylight before the fighting stopped, the morning on the day after the attack was the 1st of January. Some historians still skirt the problem by merely saying the attack took place on the last day of the year (the 31st) but leave it to the reader to decide if the writer meant the attacked was formed up on the night of the 31st or the 30th and the actual fighting took place on the 31st of December or the 1st of January.

!82 5. A Prisoner of the British

John Joseph Henry is the principal source for this chapter but supplemented by an unpublished manuscript by Arthur Lefkowitz on Arnold and his army following the battle for Quebec that makes extensive use of British sources such as Colonel MacLean and General Carleton. The story of James being kept in irons for a long period was in James’ pension application and also mentioned in Henry. There are two versions as to why the major escape attempt failed, and Henry’s version is the one used here. The other maintains that the plot failed due to an informer, John Hall, a former British deserter who supposedly was a spy for the British and alerted them before the escape attempt. There are also multiple versions of the parole wording, and the one used here is from James’ pension application. Jeremiah Greenman’s version varies slightly from James’. Greenman records it as, “We whose names are under written do solemnly promis unto his Excellingsy Genl calton that we will not say or do any thing against his parson or government but will repair whenever his excellingcy Genl or any other of the Majestys Commander shall say or see fit to call for us” (spelling and punctuation is Greenman’s.)

6. Back in the Continental Army

The information on the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment comes from the Pennsylvania Archives and Bell’s History of Northumberland County. Since the regiment was raised at Sunbury and James enlisted 23 days after his release at Elizabethtown Point, NJ, it can be safely assumed that his wife and child were residing at the time in Sunbury or its vicinity. A larger question is how James knew where they were unless they were living there before he enlisted in the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment in 1775. Although Captain Matthew Smith raised his company from Lancaster County, he resided in Paxtang, near Harrisburg, only 60 miles south of Sunbury in the Susquehanna River Valley. It is entirely possible that James lived in Northumberland County in 1775, and Paxtang was the closest point to enlist. Information on the Battle of Short Hills came from www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles, and the biographical information on many of the American officers was extracted from Heitman, Officers in the Continental Army, 1775-83.

7. Battle of Brandywine

The movements of Clark’s Independent Artillery Company during the battle were obtained in personal discussion with historians at the Brandywine Battlefield Museum. Other accounts important to the battle can be found in Mowday’s September 11, 1777, and McGuire’s The , Volume 1. For a number of reasons the Battle of Brandywine is probably the least documented major battle in the Revolutionary War, and comprehensive histories of the war tend to pass over it with few details being offered. Even though Clark’s guns effectively halted the British pursuit, history has seen fit to award no plaudits to Americans for actions in the battle. The discussion of the makeup of Philadelphia came from the Pennsylvania Archives and Phillips, The Cousin’s Wars.

8. Battle of Germantown !83 Much of the material in this chapter came from McGuire, The Philadelphia Campaign, Volume 2. The conference whereby General Knox counseled Washington to attack the Chew House instead of by-passing it is recorded in many works.

9. Valley Forge, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard

The basic work on Washington’s Lifeguard is Godfrey’s The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard. The only first person journal kept by a member of the Guard known today is by Fisher, Elijah Fisher’s Journal, 1775 to 1783. Unfortunately for historians Fisher was in the Guard only from March 30, 1778 until January 7, 1780. He entered the Guard shortly after James to be a part of the model company drilled as instructors and demonstrators for the remainder of Washington’s army. The story of von Steuben’s drilling is given in The Drillmaster of Valley Forge by Lockhart, and von Steuben’s manual is available as Baron von Steuben’s Revolutionary War Drill Manual in a facsimile reprint of the 1794 edition. Most materials on the Guard, its records and Major Gibb’s journal were lost in the 19th century.

10. Battle of Monmouth Courthouse.

Most of this chapter was drawn from Stryker, The Battle of Monmouth and works dealing with Washington’s campaigns and the whole Revolutionary War. Like Brandywine, this battle has escaped modern historians. There is still controversy over Morgan’s actions on the day of the battle, and General Charles Lee’s testimony does not help solve the problems. One is tempted to give General Morgan a “bad hair day” on which he just didn’t perform well. This is not unusual for generals – Stonewall Jackson failed miserably during The Seven Days Battles, and Napoleon went out to lunch at Waterloo.

11. Operations around New York City

The only work with substantial information on the Guard during this period is again Godfrey.

12. Detached Service in Pennsylvania

The bulk of this chapter comes from James’ report in the National Archives covering his service in the Susquehanna Valley to obtain a land grant. The narrative of the battle at Warrior’s Run is given in the Pennsylvania Archives and Bell’s History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Sipe’s The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania serves to fill in gaps in the overall picture.

13. Back with the Guard

This chapter primarily comes from Godfrey. Some information is available in Schenkman, Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh, and the officials in the New York State Historical Site in Newburgh, Washington’s Headquarters. Additionally, see Waite and Huey, Washington’s !84 Headquarters, the Hasbrouck House, an Historical Structure Report. The Mutiny at Morristown is well-documented in Mutiny in January by Van Doren. The Battle of Yorktown, really just Cornwallis’s surrender, was drawn from Johnston, The and the Surrender of Cornwallis 1781. The museum at Newburgh, NY, at Washington’s Headquarters in the Hasbrouck House has some rosters and pay records, and these were used in the discussion of James’s supposed “desertion.”

14. Civilian Life after the War

Sources for this discussion include the Venango County Historical Society, the Centre County Historical Society, and family materials. Personal research into the archives of the Steubenville, Ohio, library, the Western Herald and Steubenville Gazette from 1803 to 1840, Pioneer Days, by Mary Sinclair covering early Steubenville, The History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio by Doyle, the Steubenville DAR and various US censuses provided most of the information on James Junior.

!85 Select Bibliography

Bell, Herbert C. History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Brown, Ruch & Company, 1891.

Bolton, Charles Knowles. Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America. Boston: Bacon and Brown, 1910. This is an excellent presentation of Presbyterian life dominated by their congregations and pastors.

Callahan, North. – General Washington’s General. New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1948. Standard biography of Henry Knox and the employment of his artillery regiments.

Childs, John. The Williamite Wars in Ireland, 1688-1691. London: Hambledon & London, 2007.

Codman II, John. Arnold’s Expedition to Quebec. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1901. Interesting but chatty work which contains many items found nowhere else and may be fabricated.

Connolly, S. J. (Ed). Oxford Companion to Irish History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Essentially an encyclopedia for Irish history and invaluable.

Doherty, Richard. The Williamite War in Ireland, 1688-91. Dublin: International Specialized Book Services, 1998. Probably the single best book on William in Ireland.

Dougherty, Cameron (Ed). Ar nDuthcas, volumes 43-54. Grandville, MI: Clann O’Dochartaigh, October 2004 – March 2009. Newsletter periodically published by Clann O’Dochartaigh containing generalogical, historical, and other items of interest on Dougherty families.

Doyle, Joseph P. The History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio. Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1910.

Fischer, David H. Albion’s Seed - Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. The definitive work on emigration from the United Kingdom to America.

Fisher, Elijah. Elijah Fisher’s Journal while in the War for Independence and !86 continued two years after he came to Maine, 1775 to 1784. Augusta MA: Press of Badger and Manley, 1880. The only known memoir of service in the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard.

Foster, Rev Ivan. The Ulster Protestant & the Williamite Wars in Ireland. London: B.B. Press, 2008. Stresses the economic factors and Ulster Presbyterian participation.

Glasgow, Maude M.D. The Scotch-Irish in Northern Ireland and the American Colonies. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1936. An excellent work on Scotch-Irish history and in describing their lives and culture.

Godcharles, Frederic A. “Colonel Matthew Smith, Soldier and Statesman”, Proceedings and Addresses Volume XII, of the Northumberland County Historical Society. Sunbury: The Northumberland County Historical Society, March 1, 1942.

Godfrey, Carlos E. MD. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard Revolutionary War. Washington, DC: Stevenson-Smith Company, 1904. The basic and only work solely on Washington’s Lifeguard.

Greenman Jeremiah. Diary of a Common Soldier in the American Revolution, 1775- 1783 (edited by Robert Bray & Paul Bushnell). DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1978. Good primary source and also contains information on the pension application process.

Griffin, Patrick. The People With No Name – Ireland’s Ulster Scots, America’s Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. Good only for describing Ulster Presbyterian life -- main theme of no value.

Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register of Officers in the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution April, 1775 to December, 1783 (Revised Edition). Washington DC: The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914. The revised edition is more comprehensive than the original edition, and is an invaluable reference to Revolutionary War historians.

Henry, John Joseph. An Accurate and Interesting Account of the Hardships and Sufferings of that Band of Heroes Who Traversed the Wilderness in the Campaign against Quebec, in 1775. Lancaster PA: William Greer, 1812.

Higginbotham, Don. Daniel Morgan Revolutionary Rifleman. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1961. Good biography. !87 Hoffman, Michael A. II. They Were White and They Were Slaves – The Untold History of the Enslavement of Whites in Early America. Coeur d’Alene, ID: Independent History & Research Co., 1991. Offers good portrait of indentured serviture.

Johnston, Henry P. The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis 1781. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881.

Kenny, Kevin. Peaceable Kingdom Lost – The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment. London: Oxford University Press, 2009. Presents an even-handed account of Matthew Smith and the Paxton Boys.

Lefkowitz, Arthur S. Benedict Arnold’s Army – The 1775 American Invasion of Canada during the Revolutionary War. New York: Savas Beatie, 2008. The best secondary source on the march to Quebec and the resulting attack and siege.

Leyburn, James G. The Scotch-Irish – A Social History. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1962. Primary modern work on the Scotch-Irish.

Linehan, John C. Irish Scots and the Scotch-Irish. Concord, NH: American-Irish Historical Society, 1092. Points out that the Scots were the Scotti, a tribe that originally came from Ireland.

Linn, John B. & William H. Egle, eds. Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series. Harrisburg: State Printer of Pennsylvania, 1896. The archives contain a wealth of information on Pennsylvania units and personnel.

Lockhart, Paul. The Drillmaster of Valley Forge – The Baron De Steuben and the Making of the American Army. New York: Smithsonian Books, 2008. Excellent study of discipline and drill in making an army effective.

Marshall William F. Ulster Sails West. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. Small but important book listing many Scotch Irish prominent in the Revolutionary War.

MacManus, Seumas. The Story of the Irish Race. New York: Devin-Adair, 1971. A somewhat dated history of Ireland and the Irish, but still valuable.

McConkey, Rebecca. The Hero of Cowpens – A Revolutionary Sketch. Baltimore: 1885. A very useful biography of Daniel Morgan. !88 McGee,Thomas D’Arcy. A History of the Irish Settlers in North America From the Earliest Period to the Census of 1850. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974. Good treatment of the early immigrations, but includes Scotch-Irish as simply Irish. Attempts to infer that all Irish were and are Catholic.

McGuire, Thomas J. The Philadelphia Campaign Volume 1, Brandywine and the Fall of Philadelphia. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006. Excellent history on Brandywine and the political situation in Philadelphia.

------. The Philadelphia Campaign Volume 2, Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2007. Excellent study of Germantown.

McKeiver, Philip. A New History of Cromwell’s Irish Campaigns. King’s Lynn, UK: Advance Press, 2007. Revisionist history debunking many myths surrounding Cromwell’s action in Ireland. Note that Cromwell sent most Irish captives to the Barbados as slaves.

Moore, George H. The Treason of Charles Lee – Major General Second in Command in the American Army of the Revolution. New York: New-York Historical Society, 1858. The first comprehensive study of Lee’s actions up to the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse.

Mowday, Bruce E. September 11, 1777 – Washington’s Defeat at Brandywine dooms Philadelphia. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 2002. Lots of color, a little short on actual details.

Murphy, Denis. Cromwell in Ireland: A History of Cromwell’s Irish Campaign. Dublin: M.H. McGill & Sons, 1897. Dated, promotes anti-Cromwellian myths, but still the classic reference on Cromwell in Ireland.

Phillips, Kevin. The Cousin’s Wars, Religion, Politics, & the Triumph of Anglo- America. New York: Basic Books, 1999. An important work for understanding American history, particularly the Revolutionary War and breakdown of the population into patriots, loyalists and neutrals.

Randall, Willard Sterne. Benedict Arnold – Patriot and Traitor. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1990. Probably the best single work on Arnold.

Roberts, Kenneth. March to Quebec. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1946. !89 A quick source for fifteen primary source journals and the defense of Roger Enos from his trial.

Schenkman, A. J. Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh. Charlestown, SC: The History Press, 2009.

Sinclair, Mary Donaldson. Pioneer Days. Steubenville, Steubenville Herald Star, 1962.

Sipe, C. Hale. The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania – An Account of the Indian Events in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian War, Pontiac’s War, Lord Dunmore’s War, the Revolutionary War and the Indian Uprisings from 1789 to 1795. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2000 (reprint of 1929 edition.) Basic reference on the Indian wars in Pennsylvania.

Smith, Justin H. Arnold’s March from Cambridge to Quebec - A Critical Study. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1903. Wonderful scholarly work for the time.

Stone, Edwin Martin. The Invasion of Canada in 1775: Including the Journal of Captain Simeon Thayer, describing the Perils and Sufferings of the Army under Colonel Benedict Arnold in the march through the Wilderness to Quebec. Providence, RI: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1867. Contains a valuable discussion of the primary source journals and other archives.

Steuben, Frederick William Baron von. Baron von Steuben’s Revolutionary War Drill Manual. New York: Dover Publications, 1985, a facsimile reprint of the 1794 edition.

Stryker William S. & William Starr Myers. The Battle of Monmouth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1927. Probably the best single volume on the battle of Monmouth.

Tanner, Marcus. Ireland’s Holy Wars, The Struggle for a Nation’s Soul 1500- 2000. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Contains much valuable information of Ireland and its history prior to 1800.

Vallance, Edward. The Glorious Revolution 1688 – Britain’s Fight for Liberty. London: Little, Brown & Company, 2006. Useful modern study also covering actions in Ireland.

Van Doren, Carl. Mutiny in January. New York: The Viking Press, 1943. The story of the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line at Morristown in January, !90 1781, followed by that of the New Jersey Line.

!91