as I have Ben one of the grateest Suferers that is now in the united
States of Ameraca Both in Person and Property
I have Sufferd Every thing But Death Robd Plundered of Every far
thing that I was master of But loock upon it as an honour that I
have Suffard in so just a Cause as we are now Engagd in and very
happy that I have made my Escape from the Enemi after Being Prisener
two years and nine months I think it my Duty as I am now in the
Service of the united States to Enform your honnours of the
Proceedings and Carriings on in the Department whare I am--it Both
greaves and Shagrans me to the hart to Se matters so Ill Conduckted
as theay are in this Department--it is very natural for Every one
that has the Cause of his Contry at hart to Enquire into the reason
of our grevences--is not one the farmers Being Drove of thair
Plantation on our fronteers By the Saveges--Could theay remaind on
thair Plantations theay Could have Ben very Sarvesable in Suppliing
our main army in Provisions in Stead of that the Poor mifortonate
Peopel are obleged to retreet into the thick Setled Contry and I may
Say live almost upon the Charrity of the Contry which of consequence
must Distress the hole Contry for Provisions we will Enquire why
those Saveges are our Enemies theay are Bribd By the British to
take up the hachet against us whare is thair rendevous Detroit a
place Stockaded in with Cedar Pickets and Eighty Soldiers to gard it
But it is Strong Enough to keep a large Quantity of goods in so the
British Can and Do give near a millian Presents to Bribe the Saveges
to fall upon our fronteers and Distress our hole Contry--But we will
Suppose that Place to Be Esily taken which it raly is if matters
ware Conducted as theay ought to Be--But we will Say that the
Publick has Ben at grate Expence for two years Past and thare is
nothing Done I may Say nothing thare is a fort Bult at Bever Criek
and one at tuskerowayes which if theay are not rainforst with men
and Provisions very Spedily we have no reason to think But theay
will fall into the hands of the Enemi in the Spring now had one of
those forts Ben Bult at Preskeele or Kichoga or any whare on the
lake side the men might have Ben Employed this winter in Boulding of
Boats or gundelows So that in the Spring we Could Command the lakes
which if we Dont we Cant keep Detroit if we take it or if the winter
had Seveir we Could have gone on the ice and taken Detroit and
vessels to and with half the men that it would have taken at any
other Season of the year for the vessels would Be all froze up But
in Stead of that theay are Bult in an Endian Contry whare that all
Supplies may Be very Esily Cut of and give the Saveges Susspicon
that we are a going to Conker them and not our Enemi the English and
very good right theay have after thare has Ben such threats throw
out to them as thare has we hant the reason But to Expect then all
against us Before general McIntosh marcht from Bever Criek the
governer of Detroit Put up a few of the lower Sort of Saveges By
Bribing them to Send word to the general that theay would meet him
at Shuger Criek and give him Battel at the Same time thare was more
than four to one Sent him word that theay would not Enterfeir or
misleit him on his march as he had told them that he would go to
Detroit the general marcht to the Place But thare was not one that
apeard against him he then gave word that all those Saveges that Did
not Come in within twelve Days time and join him that he would loock
upon them as Enemies and use them as Such and that he would Destroy
thair hole Contry--now it was an impossibillity for those nation
that sent him word that theay would not misleit him to get word in
that Short Space of time which the general thought Proper to Set
much more Come in--now what Can we Expect But to have them all
against us if thare is not Some Spedy rimedy--I Cannot Say what
opinion your honours may have of the Saveges But I Can asure you
that theay are very numerous thair numbers are not known that thare
has not one out of a hundred taken up the hachet against us yet But
we Cannot But Expect theay will if there is not Proper Steps taken
and that Spedily--we will Supose that the Proper Steps are for us to
march threw thair Contry and take Detroit which is Esily Done if
matters ware Conducted as theay ought to Be--and By having that in
our Possession and the lakes it will Be in our Power to forse all
those near nations to Come upon our terms and that will Enduce all
the farrons ones to Be upon aliance with us and then we Shall have
all the trade of that Extensive Contry Quite from the north west
hutsons Bay lake Superier the heads of the macceippia which will
make our Contry florish--But we will Say the Publick has Ben at
grate Expence for two years Past and we are no nearer now than we
was when we fust Set out But what is the reason it is Because thare
was Peopel Sent that Knew nothing of the mater the general told me
that he was Brought up by the (sic) Sea Shore and that he knew
nothing abought Pack horseing in this wooden Contry--I Dont take it
upon me to Dictate or Sensure no one But I think that ought to Be
Enquired into Before thare was thousands Spent But now it is to
recall the horses and Bollocks are Dead the Provisions is Eat the
men must have thair Pay it is Sunk lost gone and here we are Still
going on in the Same way the general has likewise got the ill will
of all his officers the melitia in Protickaler which I am very sorry
for as theay are the only Peopel that we have to Depend upon to Do
any thing in this Deartment--now if thare was not any one that knew
how matters Should have Ben Conducted it would have Ben a meteriel
Diference--But thare is a gentlemon of an unblemisht Carrecter who
has Singulied himself By leaveing Every thing that was near and Dear
to him and Come in to this Quarter of the Contry Prepared Proper
talks for the Saveges and as he was grately respected By all those
who knew him it had its Entended Effect and I Can asure your
honnours that it has Ben the Saving of hundreads of lives and I Can
further asure you By various Surcomstances and Credible Intilegence
that if he had not have Come and Did what he Did that thare would
not have remaind one family this Side alagane mountains--he is Still
Striveing to keep them from falling upon us But as here is others
here Strieveing to Set them up it will Be a very Difecult matter for
him to Do it he has Sent for the Cheifs of the nations to Come in
and that thare is Still mercy for them if theay will know thair Duty
and as his Enfluence is grate with all those nations who know him I
am in hope it will have its Effect But I Should not Be Disapointed
if theay Did not after receiveing Such threts as theay have he has
like wise at his own Privat Expence hired men and Sent threw the
hole Contry abought Detroit and this side found out the Situation of
it and when I was Prisener with the British I have heard them often
make remarks that if he Did not Come against that we had not another
man in our Parts that knew the Situation of the Contry and had the
Enfluence with the natives as he had--But whatever knoledge he may
have Concarning those matters he has not never had the offer of
ordering of them But in Stead of that he has Ben Put under an arest
By the fals raports of a Poor Ignorant Set of Peopel which is to the
Eternal Shame of our Contry after he had Savd them from Being
masacereed By the Saveges that was his reward--now I beg that your
Honnours will take it into Consideration and order some Spedy
arangement Before this Quarter of the Contry is ruined a house
Devided against it Self Cannot Stand and your honnours may rely upon
it that is the case here if I have taken to much liberty I Beg your
honnours will loock over it as I would not wish to Do more than My
Duty--form your most obedient
and humble Servant--John Dodge--
upon Colo. Morgans arival here he Sent an Express to the Endian
nations for them to Come in and thare has two runners jest arived
here with Speaches of grate Concequence which I suppose he will
acquaint Congress with the Eairliest oppertunity--
(_in pencil_)
Specimen of the Literati of '76--!
(_Indorsement_)
Letter from John Dodge
Pittsburg 25 Jany 1779
Read Feby. 17th.--
Referred to the board of war--
This letter or statement was not received by Congress till December
13, 1781, nearly two years later, and the committee to which it was
referred, reported adversely to the suggestions contained in it, March
20, 1782.
Early in 1779, Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton was captured
by General George Rogers Clark at Vincennes and was carried to
Williamsburg, Virginia, as a prisoner of war. The letters and Narrative
of Dodge had been read by some members of the Council of Virginia and
the Council resolved, June 16, 1779, that because of the cruelties
inflicted by Great Britain on the American prisoners of war, it was
proper to begin a system of retaliation, and they conclude their
resolution as follows:--"this board has resolved to advise the governor
that the said Henry Hamilton, Philip Dejean and William LaMothe,
prisoners of war, be put in irons, confined in the dungeon of the public
jail, debarred the use of pen, ink and paper and excluded all converse
except with their keeper, and the governor orders accordingly." The
charges preferred by Dodge against Hamilton, were urged as an additional
reason for confining the latter in jail. Hamilton answered that the
statements of Dodge were mutual, and that the latter was "an
unprincipled and perjured renegade."[9]
Hamilton's excuses were not well received, and although no longer
confined in irons, he remained in prison for some time, but was finally
released and subsequently returned to Canada as Lieutenant Governor of
the province.
Dodge was appointed Indian Agent by Virginia and was located in
Kaskaskia from 1780 to 1788 and possibly until a later date.[10]
When claims of the Revolutionary soldiers to the western lands were
being considered Dodge laid claim to a section, as a refugee from
Canada[11] and his heirs were awarded a tract containing 1280 acres in
the year 1800. This indicates that Dodge died before May 8th of that
year. Four patents were issued to the heirs of John Dodge for lands in
town sixteen, range twenty, Ohio, July 12, 1802.
Henry L. Caldwell, a grandson of Israel Dodge, wrote as follows:--"I do
not know the date of the death of Colonel John Dodge, neither can I
locate his grave or that of my grandfather, Israel Dodge, but the
remains of both are, beyond doubt, resting in the old grave yard in Ste.
Genevieve, Mo., which adjoins the catholic grave yard."[12]
John Dodge, while living at Kaskaskia, held a commission of Colonel
received from Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia. His brother Israel
Dodge was a lieutenant under him at that place. Israel had married Ann
Hunter at Carlisle, Pa., before he moved to the West, and at Vincennes,
their son Henry, who afterwards became the first Governor of the
Territory of Wisconsin, was born October 12, 1782. He was named after
Moses Henry, who was in the fort at Vincennes when it was captured by
Governor Hamilton in 1778, being the only private in the "Army" which
held out against the British invader.
There is a letter from John Dodge from Kaskaskia, June 23, 1783,
informing the Indians that Detroit had been captured by the Americans.
A false report. Va. St. Pap. 3. 500.
A letter to Philip Boyle at Sandusky, July 13, 1779, in Farmer's Hist.
of Detroit 1. 173. This letter was intercepted by the British. It
enclosed the proceedings of the Virginia Council concerning Hamilton.
Dodge was a great traveler in his day. Born in Connecticut in 1751, he
went to Sandusky, Ohio, in 1770, thence to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), thence
back to Sandusky, thence in succession to Detroit, Michillimackinac
(Mackinac), Detroit, Quebec, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Fort Pitt,
Vincennes (Indiana), Kaskaskia (Illinois), Ste. Genevieve (Missouri),
and New Orleans. We find mention of the man at these places and it is
very probable that his travels were much more extensive.[13]
In the Harman papers, as reported by the Missouri Historical Society, is
the following reference to Dodge in a letter from John Rice Jones, dated
October, 1789: "John Dodge and Michael Antanya, with a party of whites
and armed Piankeshaw Indians, came over from the Spanish side and
attempted to carry off some slaves of Mr. John Edgar, and otherwise were
guilty of outlandish conduct, threatening to burn the village." Dodge
and Edgar were old friends and fellow prisoners at Detroit. They were
both arrested and confined in that place as being too friendly towards
the American cause. Edgar was one of the witnesses relied upon to prove
that Dodge was entitled to the land grant for which he had made
application as a Canadian refugee.
James Wood[14] of Frederick County, Va., who is mentioned in the
Narrative, was appointed to command an expedition against the Shawanese,
and armed his company at his own expense. He was also deputed, by the
House of Burgesses, in 1775, to go among the several tribes of Western
Indians and invite them to a treaty at Fort Pitt. He set out on his
errand June 25, 1775, and was gone two months. He "underwent the
greatest fatigues, difficulties and dangers." He was ordered paid L250
for "the great service he hath done to this colony, by his diligent and
faithful execution of the commission with which he was intrusted."
The meeting of the Indians, which is referred to in the Narrative, took
place at Fort Pitt in October, 1775. One of the Indian chiefs who was
present on the occasion, was Shegenaba, the son of the famous Pontiac.
His father had recently been killed in a war between the Indians, and he
refers to this event in his speech, a part of which is as follows:
Fathers: From the information I have had of the commandant of
Detroit, with distrust I accepted your invitation, and measured my
way to the council fire with trembling feet. Your reception of me
convinces me of his falsehood, and the groundlessness of my fears.
Truth and he has long been enemies. My father, and many of my
chiefs, have lately tasted death. The remembrance of that misfortune
almost unmans me, and fills my eyes with tears.
The following is another letter by Dodge:
Fort Pitt Decr 13th 1781.