few days that he would be compelled to give me up to the British
as a prisoner of war. I gave him my note for the horse which he
gave for me, which I paid him about eighteen months afterwards,
when I went out to war again, under General McArthur. I think the
horse was valued at thirty six dollars--you see what I was worth
in money. A number of prisoners were sold at Detroit from time to
time, and many of the citizens showed great liberality and
humanity in purchasing them. It should be spoken and recorded to
their praise, that some of the citizens spent nearly every thing
which they possessed in buying prisoners who had fallen into
savage hands, and in furnishing them with clothing and provision.
When I was delivered to the British as a prisoner of war, I was
placed in the guardhouse, where we remained all summer. During
our confinement we suffered from hunger, and what provisions we
had were not good. We had the floor for a bed, and a log for our
pillow, all the time. There were six or eight in the fort that
had been purchased before I was--they had were taken prisoners at
Dudley's defeat.
This was a long tedious summer to me, for we had no employment
whatever, but were compelled to lay about the fort from the end
of one month to another. A gentleman in Detroit proposed to the
officer in command, to be surety for my appearance, if he would
permit me to go into the town and work at my trade, but he
refused to let me go upon any terms whatever.
At times, during the summer, the streets of Detroit were filled
with Indians; and many of them came to see us. In the month of
July, we saw them have a young woman prisoner, whom we supposed
they had taken from the frontiers of Ohio. We could never learn
what disposition they made of her. A company of the Indians from
the northwest encamped for several days near the walls of the
fort, immediately previous to their going to war. This gave us an
opportunity of ascertaining their mode of preparation for war.
Among other things, they eat the flesh of dogs.
During our imprisonment here, we were brought to behold a very
shocking sight. We saw, in the hands of the Indians, a number of
scalps fastened in hoops made for the purpose and hung out before
the fire to dry. They had been but recently taken off: and more
horrible yet, the most of them were the scalps of females! We
remained for sometime upon the fort battery observing their
situation and employment before they saw us. When they beheld us,
and knew that we were prisoners, they raised the war-whoop
instantly in token of victory. They showed the tomahawk, and
pointed to the scalps, to tell that they had murdered the persons
with the tomahawk. They held up the scalp of a female and showed
signs of savage cruelty and barbarity, which I had never seen
exhibited before. These things were done in open day, in the
presence of the British officers; and those refined gentlemen,
who feel that they occupy a place of elevation and superior rank
in society, could look upon these shocking mockeries of humanity
with the hard heartedness of the savages themselves.
Many of the British soldiers were kind to us in our imprisonment;
they would steal us out by night, when the officers were away
carousing, that we might get some recreation and refreshment. The
officers were haughty and overbearing, doing nothing for our
comfort. The joy that I felt in being released from the Indians,
soon died amid my rough fare in the British prison. During the
summer we were almost entirely naked; and were only saved from
becoming completely so by the generosity of Mr. Hunt of Detroit,
who gave us each a suit of summer clothes; which was all the
clothing that we got until after we arrived at Quebec, sometime
in December. About the first of August, nearly all the soldiers
and Indians disappeared from Detroit. We were at a loss to
account for this, but supposed they had gone to make an attack
upon some of the forts, or frontier parts of the Northwestern
Army. It was not a great while until the secret was out. They
came home cursing Major Croghan, (they had made an unsuccessfull
attack upon Lower Sandusky,) and saying that he loaded his guns
with nails, slugs, and with any thing and every thing that came
to hand. The faces of some of them were completely peppered with
small shot. They lost a number of their best men in this battle.
It is said that _Captain James Hunter_, sometimes known by the
name of "old Sandusky"--whom Congress since presented with a
sword as a token of national respect--suspecting that the British
and Indians would undertake to storm the fort, right or wrong,
swung up a long heavy log, which, in case of extreme emergency,
he intended to use as a _dead fall_ by cutting loose the ropes
which held it upon the walls of the fort. This Sandusky
engagement appears to have been a hot business all around.
The well known battle upon the lake, in which Perry was
successful, was fought during our confinement in this fort. We
heard the report of the guns plainly, and it produced much
excitement among all. Every eye was turned toward Malden, and we
eagerly caught every word that came from that direction.
A few days afterward they told us that the British had taken
Perry and all his fleet. The soldiers laughed at us, and told us
that the Yankees knew nothing about fighting on the water--that
they could whip us two to one. We had to bear this as well as we
could, until we saw great preparations making every where to
remove the arms, ammunition, &c., which were sent up the river.
We now suspected that they had misinformed us of the result of
the battle. When we asked, they told us one thing and then
another, until one of the soldiers privately told us the whole
tale--that Perry had actually captured the British fleet--and
that the Yankees were coming upon us in great numbers, and were
just at hand. We now turned the tables upon them--it was our time
to be merry.
Every day increased the hurry and confusion; boats and small
vessels were ascending the river Detroit, bearing off arms,
provisions, and every species of property, belonging to the
British. It was a time of joy to the citizens of Detroit,
generally, to see the Indians and British leaving so rapidly: and
we were looking almost hourly to behold the Kentuckians appear in
sight. We were, however, hurried up the river, as there was no
opportunity to escape. The Indians were always kept in the rear
during a retreat, and stood between the British and danger. If I
had kept the day of the month, I could tell where Harrison,
Shelby, and Johnson, were at the time when we left Detroit. Not
knowing the position of the American army, it was fruitless to
hazard an effort to escape.
Our British masters crowded us into a vessel which was loaded
with arms and ammunition, without provisions or any arrangements
for our comfort on the way. As we ascended the lake, we ran
aground near the mouth of the river Thames, and were detained two
days; during which time we were compelled to unload and reload
the vessel. All this time we had nothing to eat but what we could
pick up, like dogs, from the offal of the ship. Here I was
tempted, and worse yet, yielded to the temptation, to steal
something to eat, and risk consequences. The British officer had
some beef hung out on the stern of the vessel, I took some of it,
and we eat it. The meat was tainted; yet it was sweet to us, not
because it was stolen, but because we were starving.
After we had succeeded in getting the vessel over the sandbar,
the wind was unfavorable, and the British officer determined to
abandon her, and (after getting her up near Dalton's she was
burned to prevent the Americans from making any spoils,) here we
were put on shore, and walked, hungry and faint, fifteen miles to
Dalton's, where we were guarded closely. This was only the
beginning of hard times. We discovered the determination of the
British to send us down through Canada, and consequently began to
lose all hope of seeing the American army. A guard of British and
Indians was prepared to take us on. A cart load of provision was
started with us, but we never saw it after the morning on which
we left Dalton's. Why this provision was started, and not
suffered to proceed, we never could even guess. The officer was
very rigorous, and would not suffer us to stop and procure any
refreshment, but drove us onward like cattle going to market. The
second night after we left _Dalton's_, we encamped in the woods.
They now kept a close watch over us--and we were as eagerly
looking for an opportunity to escape. Had we forseen the
sufferings that were ahead, we should, at least some us, have
made the attempt to escape at every hazard. As stated above, our
provisions were left behind, and we were under the dominion of an
unfeeling wretch, who would but very seldom even suffer us to go
into a house to ask for a morsel of bread. He would march us hard
all day, and at night put us into a barn or stable to sleep. We
often travelled in the rain, and then laid down without fire in
our wet clothes to try and rest. This journey of about five
hundred miles by land, and four hundred by water, we travelled,
in that cold and rainy country, with our thin gingham clothes,
given to us by Mr. Hunt of Detroit: some of us were without shoes
and coats; and we lived upon potatoes and turnips just as we
could pick them up as we passed by farms.
This part of the journey, from Dalton's to Burlington Heights,
was, perhaps, the most painful of any; not being permitted whilst
at Detroit to take much exercise, and being forced on almost
beyond our strength, rendered it painful beyond expression. And
that was not all: the officer of the guard, being a churlish and
tyranical man by nature, failed not to make use of the little
brief power committed to him for the occasion, to make our
sufferings the more insupportable. It seemed to afford him a
pleasure to "add affliction to our bonds." On some occasions,
after travelling hard all day in the rain, and having no other
lodging but a barn or stable, we had some difficulty in getting
fire enough, or getting admittance to it, sufficient to dry our
clothes. On this part of the journey, in addition to suffering
from the cold rains, and from being compelled to lie down in our
wet clothes, we were almost literally starved. On leaving the
vessel on the Thames, I found a canister which had been emptied
of the shot; this I took with me, which served to cook our
potatoes, turnips, and peas, when we could get them, and when our
cruel commander would give us time for it; but to add still more
to our inconvenience, one of the Indian guard, on returning from
Burlington Heights, stole even that from me. This was done by
stratagem, (and, by-the-by, the Indians are not slow at it.) As
some of them had to return from that place, and were preparing
for the journey, one of the party come to me and asked the loan
of my cooking vessel. I very readily loaned it to him, not
suspecting any design; but finding him rather tardy, I made
application for it: he gave me to understand that he was not done
with it; and being compelled to march immediately, I had to leave
it behind. We sometimes had pickeled pork, which I generally eat
raw. The people in that country raised peas, which they mowed and
put away vines and all together for their cattle. We would, when
lodging in barns and stables, make beds of these, and shell out
and eat the peas, and also take some along with us to eat by the
way.
I shall not attempt to notice all the particulars of this painful
march, from the Thames to York, and from York to Kingston. It was
almost an uninterrupted scene of suffering from the beginning to
the end. The officer of the guard seemed unwilling to show any
kindness himself, or that any one else should show us any. The
remembrance of these things, though twenty six years have rolled
between, produces a kind of horror in my soul even at this hour.
Here is the way that a company of ragged, naked, and starved,
Kentucky boys were driven through the country to be gazed upon
and laughed at by the inhabitants of the villages and towns
through which we passed.
When we reached York, we were closely confined in jail until
another guard was appointed to take us on to Kingston. This was
one of the most filthy prisons that I ever saw. Here they had a
difficulty in obtaining a new guard: the one which brought us to
this place from the river Thames consisted chiefly of Indians,
and as they were not willing to proceed any farther, the officer
had to look for some of the most vigilant soldiers to take their
place. We found all along that they were not willing to risk us
with a guard of British soldiers until we arrived at this point,
when they supposed there would be less danger of an escape.
We tarried several days at York, and then took the road to
Kingston; and the farther we went the worse the travelling
became, the weather colder, and our clothing more ragged, &c.
I must not omit to mention a widow lady who resided between York
and Kingston. She took all the prisoners into her house, treated
them kindly, supplied all their wants, and in every respect
showed a kind and feeling heart. If I ever knew her name, I have
forgotten it: I should like to record it here.
When we came to Kingston we were again put in a filthy jail. It
was now about the first of November, and we were allowed very
little fire, and our clothing so thin, that we had to shiver it
out the best way we could. Our spirits remained unsubdued, and we
felt cordially to despise that tyranny which heaped suffering
upon us. We rejoiced that it was in defence of dear liberty that
these afflictions had fallen upon us; and we hoped by some means
soon to enjoy our liberty again.
The British troops at this place were in regular drilling. The
infantry and artillery were daily employed in firing at targets.
My attention was specially drawn to their manner of shooting at a
target, made of an empty barrel placed out in the lake. This was
done that they might, with the greater certainty, fire upon a
vessel as it approached the town. We supposed that they were in
expectation of an attack from the Yankee fleet upon lake Ontario.
From Kingston we started to Montreal in open boats; if possible
this was yet worse than travelling by land, for we could take no
exercise to keep ourselves warm. The rains that fell upon us now,
appeared as cold as during any part of winter in Kentucky, and we
were still in our thin clothing. The boat was scarcely large
enough to contain the seventeen prisoners, and the guard; and not
high enough for us to stand up; so we had to sit down on the
bottom of the boat, and endure the cold from morning until night.
I think we slept but once in a house between Kingston and
Montreal, and that was the upper room of an unfinished court
house, where we had a small stove, and where we dried our few
rags of clothing. At length we came in sight of Montreal; they
landed us above the town that they might march us through the
city, to be seen as a rare curiosity. Word had reached the town
before us, that a number of Kentucky prisoners were to pass
through that day; and it appeared that the whole city had
collected into that street to see the great sight. The windows
and doors were full of ladies, manifesting great eagerness to see
Kentuckians. The reader may perhaps imagine my feelings at this
time, for I shall not attempt to describe them.
We were now taken to jail as usual, where we were furnished with
a good room, and for the first time since we left Detroit our
situation was somewhat comfortable. I think we remained here near
two weeks. Our old rags of clothes, which were given us by the
British soldiers, proved rather an annoyance to us, as the jail
was warm and the vermin began to multiply in great numbers. We
had no change of raiment, consequently we had no washing done;
thus we spent the time at Montreal.
As before remarked, the vermin became very annoying--and having
no possible chance of avoiding them, I fell upon the plan of
turning my clothes every morning, so as to keep them travelling.
In order to form an adequate idea of these tormenters of the
human family, you must be shut up in a hot, filthy prison, with a
number of prisoners clothed in filthy rags, and yourself as bad
as any of them, with thousands and millions of these bosom
friends crawling over you. If that would not make an impression,
I don't know what would.
A right regular built Yankee, who had been but recently taken
upon the lines not far from Montreal, was brought into the prison
a few days previous to our leaving for Quebec. He was discovered,
shortly after his arrival, to pick one of those troublers of our
peace from his white shirt, and very deliberately lay him down on
a bench, after which, taking a small chip between his finger and
thumb, succeeded in dispatching him. This manouvre afforded some
sport for some of us who had learned, by things we had suffered,
not to take it quite so tedious. He was told that he would soon
learn to kill them without a chip.
At this place we were told by the British that we were eating
Yankee beef--that most of their supplies came from the States. As
it is not my business, I will forbear censuring; and will content
myself with barely stating facts. These things occur very
frequently all along the line between Canada and the United
States in time of war; and men who profess great patriotism are
sometimes found to be engaged in it. Such patriotism as this
would scarcely be found in Kentucky.
We left for Quebec in a steam boat, the first built on the St.
Lawrence, and arrived there in about twenty four hours. The jail
here was less comfortable than the one at Montreal. We were
literally in rags, and remained so for many weeks; we had an
agent whose duty it was to see that we were provided for, but if
my memory serves me, he did not so much as visit the prison for
nearly three weeks, and then we were treated by him like so many
slaves.
After so long a time, Gardner, the agent, furnished each of us
with a suit of coarse clothing. By this time the weather had
become excessively cold, and we were removed to the barracks
until a prison could be prepared for us upon cape Diamond, where
we principally spent the time whilst we remained at Quebec.
After we removed to cape Diamond our number was greatly
increased. Only seventeen Kentuckians came down together from
Detroit; but there were many others taken at different times and
places; some sailors, but mostly they were regular soldiers.
These had been confined in other parts of the jail, and now, when
collected together, we numbered say ninety, all put into one
house together. Here we had a small yard where we could take some
exercise; this was a great privilege to men who had been so long
in close confinement. We were closely locked up at night, and
generally under a strict guard. The windows were strongly grated,
and we had only light from one side. Our provisions were scanty
and bad; I suffered more from hunger in Quebec than during any
time of my long imprisonment. It was not because they had no
provisions, but because they chose to starve us. When we were in
Montreal they tauntingly told us that we were eating Yankee
beef--giving us to understand that they were furnished with
provisions from the United States. This scantiness of supply
continued through the winter, and we were under the necessity of
enduring our sufferings as we could. We were told that British
prisoners in the United States fared worse than we did. Our wood
was birch, and it served a double purpose; for we burned the
wood, and made tea of the bark--this was all the tea or coffee
which we drank in the city of Quebec.
The agent allowed us to draw each a few dollars in money; with
this we bought articles from those who visited our prison. We
were not very economical with our money; it lasted but a short
time.
Some of the prisoners were always forming plans of escape, but
could never mature them. At one time we were well nigh an
elopement, but one proved a traitor, and informed the British
officer of the design. The traitor had been in the regular
service, and was taken a prisoner somewhere between Canada and
the United States. Some offers were made to him, and he meanly
enlisted as a British soldier, and divulged every thing which he
supposed would make our condition more miserable. He told of the
contemplated escape, and who were the most active as the leaders.
On the next day the keeper of the prison came up, and upon
examination finding that the account was true, and ascertaining
who had cut the holes, he sent the poor fellows to the dungeon,
where they were doomed to remain for two weeks upon half rations.
After this pennance they were permitted to return to their former
place. This broke up all designs of escape, as we were closely
watched during the remainder of our stay.
After the fellow above named enlisted, strong efforts were made
to induce others to follow his example. In order to this, they
sent one of the officers who had command of the guard that
brought us from York to Kingston, supposing that because we were
acquainted with him, he would therefore have more influence with
us. He was, however, the last man that should have been sent; we
knew him to be sure, but we knew him to be a hard hearted tyrant,
who had starved and drove us nearly to death. We were displeased
at seeing him come into the prison, and no sooner had he made
known his errand, than we gave him to understand flatly and
plainly that deserters were not to be found among us. We
expressed our detestation at the conduct of the one who had
turned tory and traitor, and told him if there was no other way
of a release from prison, that we would greatly prefer to lie in
the fort until we were starved and perished to death. We moreover
gave him to understand that we would not be insulted in that
manner, and that he would do well to leave the fort--and some of
the boys went so far as to take their tin pans, and beating upon
them with their spoons, actually drummed him out of the prison.
By this experiment they were fully satisfied that it was a most
fruitless business to try to induce us to leave our happy
government and join theirs. It was often reported that we would
be sent to Dartmoor prison, in England, and there kept as
hostages, until the differences between the two governments
should be adjusted. We sometimes thought perhaps it might be so,
but we scarcely believed anything which they told us; their
object no doubt was to alarm, with the fear of crossing the
Atlantic, that they might the more easily pursuade us to desert.
Although this thing bore a very gloomy aspect, and was often a
subject of serious conversation among us, yet we were determined,
and strengthened each other in the purpose, not to desert, but to
endure the worst, and be true to our country.
About this time we learned that Tecumseh, the great Indian
warrior, had fallen in the battle at Moravian town. His family
was at this time in Quebec; they, in company with some other
Indians, came to see us, and manifested great curiosity in taking
a good look at Kentuckians--considered by some the rarest beings
upon the earth.
Often numbers of people came to the prison to see us--one man,
after looking at us for a length of time, manifested great
disappointment, and said, "Why, they look just like other
people." It seemed from this that an idea prevailed that we were
wild men, or an order of beings that scarcely belonged to this
earth.