formerly commanded by Captain Willing, had returned from New Orleans,
which greatly added to our strength. It gave great satisfaction to the
inhabitants, when acquainted with the protection which was given them,
the alliance with France, &c. I am impatient for the arrival of Colonel
Montgomery, but have heard nothing of him lately. By your instructions
to me, I find you put no confidence in General M’Intosh’s taking
Detroit, as you encourage me to attempt it, if possible. It has been
twice in my power. Had I been able to raise only five hundred men when
I first arrived in the country, or when I was at St. Vincenne, could I
have secured my prisoners, and only have had three hundred good men, I
should have attempted it, and since learn there could have been no doubt
of success, as by some gentlemen, lately from that post, we are informed
that the town and country kept three days in feasting and diversions on
hearing of my success against Mr. Hamilton, and were so certain of my
embracing the fair opportunity of possessing myself of that post,
that the merchants and others provided many necessaries for us on our
arrival; the garrison, consisting of only eighty men, not daring to stop
their diversions. They are now completing a new fort, and I fear too
strong for any force I shall ever be able to raise in this country.
We are proud to hear Congress intends putting their forces on the
frontiers, under your direction. A small army from Pittsburg, conducted
with spirit, may easily take Detroit, and put an end to the Indian war.
Those Indians who are active against us, are the Six Nations, part of
the Shawnese, the Meamonies, and about half the Chesaweys, Ottawas,
Jowaas, and Pottawatimas nations, bordering on the lakes. Those nations,
who have treated with me, have behaved since very well, to wit, the
Peankishaws, Kiccapoos, Orcaottenans of the Wabash river, the Kaskias,
Perrians, Mechigamies, Foxes, Sacks, Opays, Illinois, and Poues, nations
of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Part of the Chesaweys have also
treated, and are peaceable. I continually keep agents among them,
to watch their motions and keep them peaceably inclined. Many of
the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and their confederates, are, I fear, ill
disposed. It would be well if Colonel Montgomery should give them a
dressing, as he comes down the Tennessee. There can be no peace expected
from many nations, while the English are at Detroit. I strongly
suspect they will turn their arms against the Illinois, as they will be
encouraged. I shall always be on my guard, watching every opportunity to
take the advantage of the enemy, and, if I am ever able to muster six
or seven hundred men, I shall give them a shorter distance to come and
fight me, than at this place.
There is one circumstance very distressing, that of our money’s being
discredited, to all intents and purposes, by the great number of traders
who come here in my absence, each outbidding the other, giving prices
unknown in this country by five hundred per cent., by which the people
conceived it to be of no value, and both French and Spaniards refused
to take a farthing of it. Provision is three times the price it was two
months past, and to be got by no other means than my own bonds, goods,
or force. Several merchants are now advancing considerable sums of
their own property, rather than the service should suffer, by which I
am sensible they must lose greatly, unless some method is taken to raise
the credit of our coin, or a fund be sent to Orleans, for the payment
of the expenses of this place, which should at once reduce the price
of every species of provision; money being of little service to them,
unless it would pass at the ports they trade at. I mentioned to you, my
drawing some bills on Mr. Pollock in New Orleans, as I had no money with
me. He would accept the bills, but had not money to pay them off, though
the sums were trifling; so that we have little credit to expect from
that quarter. I shall take every step I possibly can, for laying up a
sufficient quantity of provisions, and hope you will immediately send me
an express with your instructions. Public expenses in this country have
hitherto been very low, and may still continue so, if a correspondence
is fixed at New Orleans for payment of expenses in this country, or
gold and silver sent. I am glad to hear of Colonel Todd’s appointment.
I think government has taken the only step they could have done, to make
this country flourish, and be of service to them. No other regulation
would have suited the people. The last account I had of Colonel Rogers,
was his being in New Orleans, with six of his men. The rest he left at
the Spanish Ozack, above the Natches. I shall immediately send him some
provisions, as I learn he is in great want. I doubt he will not be able
to get his goods up the river except in Spanish bottoms. One regiment
would be able to clear the Mississippi, and to do great damage to the
British interest in Florida, and by properly conducting themselves might
perhaps gain the affection of the people, so as to raise a sufficient
force to give a shock to Pensacola. Our alliance with France has
entirely devoted this people to our interest. I have sent several copies
of the articles to Detroit, and do not doubt but they will produce the
desired effect. Your instructions, I shall pay implicit regard to, and
hope to conduct myself in such a manner as to do honor to my country.
I am, with the greatest respect,
your humble servant,
G. R. Clarke.
P. S. I understand there is a considerable quantity of cannon ball at
Pittsburg. We are much in want of four and six pound ball. I hope you
will immediately order some down.
IN COUNCIL, June 18, 1779
The board proceeded to the consideration of the letters of Colonel
Clarke, and other papers relating to Henry Hamilton, Esq. who has acted
for some years past as Lieutenant Governor of the settlement at and
about Detroit, and commandant of the British garrison there, under Sir
Guy Carleton, as Governor in chief; Philip Dejean, justice of the peace
for Detroit, and William Lamothe, captain of volunteers, prisoners of
war, taken in the county of Illinois.
They find, that Governor Hamilton has executed the task of inciting the
Indians to perpetrate their accustomed cruelties on the citizens of the
United States, without distinction of age, sex, or condition, with
an eagerness and avidity which evince, that the general nature of his
charge harmonized with his particular disposition. They should have been
satisfied, from the other testimony adduced, that these enormities were
committed by savages acting under his commission, but the number of
proclamations, which, at different times, were left in houses, the
inhabitants of which were killed or carried away by the Indians, one of
which proclamations is in possession of the board, under the hand and
seal of Governor Hamilton, puts this fact beyond a doubt. At the time
of his captivity, it appears, he had sent considerable bodies of Indians
against the frontier settlements of these States, and had actually
appointed a great council of Indians, to meet him at Tennessee, to
concert the operations of this present campaign. They find that his
treatment of our citizens and soldiers, taken and carried within the
limits of his command, has been cruel and inhuman; that in the case
of John Dodge, a citizen of these States, which has been particularly
stated to this board, he loaded him with irons, threw him into a
dungeon, without bedding, without straw, without fire, in the dead of
winter and severe climate of Detroit; that, in that state, he wasted
him with incessant expectations of death: that when the rigors of his
situation had brought him so low, that death seemed likely to withdraw
him from their power, he was taken out and somewhat attended to, until
a little mended, and before he had recovered ability to walk, was again
returned to his dungeon, in which a hole was cut, seven inches square
only for the admission of air, and the same load of irons again put on
him: that appearing, a second time, in imminent danger of being lost
to them, he was again taken from his dungeon, in which he had lain from
January till June, with the intermission of a few weeks only, before
mentioned. That Governor Hamilton gave standing rewards for scalps,
but offered none for prisoners, which induced the Indians, after making
their captives carry their baggage into the neighborhood of the fort,
there to put them to death, and carry in their scalps to the Governor,
who welcomed their return and success by a discharge of cannon. That
when a prisoner, brought alive, and destined to death by the Indians,
the fire already kindled, and himself bound to the stake, was
dexterously withdrawn, and secreted from them by the humanity of a
fellow prisoner, a large reward was offered for the discovery of the
victim, which having tempted a servant to betray his concealment, the
present prisoner Dejean, being sent with a party of soldiers, surrounded
the house, took and threw into jail the unhappy victim and his
deliverer, where the former soon expired under the perpetual assurances
of Dejean, that he was to be again restored into the hands of the
savages, and the latter when enlarged, was bitterly reprimanded by
Governor Hamilton.
It appears to them, that the prisoner Dejean was, on all occasions,
the willing and cordial instrument of Governor Hamilton, acting both
as judge and keeper of the jails, and instigating and urging him, by
malicious insinuations and untruths, to increase, rather than relax
his severities, heightening the cruelty of his orders by his manner of
executing them, offering at one time a reward to one man to be hangman
for another, threatening his life on refusal, and taking from his
prisoners the little property their opportunities enabled them to
acquire.
It appears, that the prisoner Lamothe, was a captain of the volunteer
scalping parties of Indians and whites, who went, from time to time,
under general orders to spare neither men, women, nor children. From
this detail of circumstances, which arose in a few cases only, coming
accidentally to the knowledge of the board, they think themselves
authorized by fair deduction, to presume what would be the horrid
history of the sufferings of the many, who have expired under their
miseries (which, therefore, will remain for ever untold), or who have
escaped from them, and are yet too remote and too much dispersed, to
bring together their well founded accusations against the prisoners.
They have seen that the conduct of the British officers, civil and
military, has in the whole course of this war, been savage, and
unprecedented among civilized nations; that our officers taken by
them, have been confined in crowded jails, loathsome dungeons, and
prison-ships, loaded with irons, supplied often with no food, generally
with too little for the sustenance of nature, and that little sometimes
unsound and unwholesome, whereby such numbers have perished, that
captivity and death have with them been almost synonymous; that they
have been transported beyond seas, where their fate is out of the reach
of our inquiry, have been compelled to take arms against their country,
and, by a refinement in cruelty, to become murderers of their own
brethren.
Their prisoners with us have, on the other hand, been treated with
humanity and moderation; they have been fed, on all occasions, with
wholesome and plentiful food, suffered to go at large within extensive
tracts of country, treated with liberal hospitality, permitted to live
in the families of our citizens, to labor for themselves, to acquire and
enjoy profits, and finally to participate of the principal benefits of
society, privileged from all burdens.
Reviewing this contrast, which cannot be denied by our enemies
themselves, in a single point, and which has now been kept up
during four years of unremitting war, a term long enough to produce
well-founded despair that our moderation may ever lead them to the
practice of humanity; called on by that justice we owe to those who are
fighting the battles of our country, to deal out, at length, miseries
to their enemies, measure for measure, and to distress the feelings of
mankind by exhibiting to them spectacles of severe retaliation, where
we had long and vainly endeavored to introduce an emulation in kindness;
happily possessed, by the fortune of war, of some of those very
individuals who, having distinguished themselves personally in this
line of cruel conduct, are fit subjects to begin on, with the work of
retaliation; this board has resolved to advise the Governor, that the
said Henry Hamilton, Philip Dejean and William Lamothe, prisoners of
war, be put into 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.
Arch. Blair, C. C.
[NOTE B]--IN COUNCIL, September 29, 1779.
The board having been, at no time, unmindful of the circumstances
attending the confinement of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain
Lamothe, and Philip Dejean, which the personal cruelties of those men,
as well as the general conduct of the enemy, had constrained them to
advise: wishing, and willing to expect, that their sufferings may lead
them to the practice of humanity, should any future turn of fortune,
in their favor, submit to their discretion the fate of their fellow
creatures; that it may prove an admonition to others, meditating like
cruelties, not to rely for impunity in any circumstances of distance or
present security; and that it may induce the enemy to reflect, what must
be the painful consequences, should a continuation of the same conduct
on their part impel us again to severities, while such multiplied
subjects of retaliation are within our power: sensible that no
impression can be made on the event of the war, by wreaking vengeance
on miserable captives; that the great cause which has animated the two
nations against each other, is not to be decided by unmanly cruelties on
wretches, who have bowed their necks to the power of the victor, but by
the exercise of honorable valor in the field: earnestly hoping that the
enemy, viewing the subject in the same light, will be content to abide
the event of that mode of decision, and spare us the pain of a second
departure from kindness to our captives: confident that commiseration
to our prisoners is the only possible motive, to which can be candidly
ascribed, in the present actual circumstances of the war, the advice
we are now about to give; the board does advise the Governor to send
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe, and Philip Dejean, to
Hanover court house, there to remain at large, within certain reasonable
limits, taking their parole in the usual manner. The Governor orders
accordingly.
Arch. Blair, C. C.
Ordered, that Major John Hay be sent, also, under parole to the same
place.
Arch. Blair, C. C.
[NOTE C]--IN COUNCIL, October 8, 1779.
The Governor is advised to take proper and effectual measures for
knowing, from time to time, the situation and treatment of our prisoners
by the enemy, and to extend to theirs, with us a like treatment,
in every circumstance; and, also, to order to a proper station, the
prison-ship fitted up on recommendation from Congress from the reception
and confinement of such prisoners of war, as shall be sent to it.
Arch. Blair, C. C.
[NOTE D.]--FEMALE CONTRIBUTIONS, IN AID OF THE WAR, probably in 1780
[After letter XVII. in the MS. is inserted the following
memorandum.]
Female Contributions, in aid of the War, probably in 1780.
Mrs. Sarah Gary, of Scotchtown, a watch-chain, cost £7 sterling.
Mrs.------ Ambler, five gold rings.
Mrs. Rebecca Ambler, three gold rings.
Mrs.---------- Nicholas, a diamond drop.
Mrs. Griffin, of Dover, ten half joes.
Mrs. Gilmer, five guineas.
Mrs. Anne Ramsay (for Fairfax), one half joe, three guineas, three
pistereens, one bit.
Do. for do. paper money, bundle No. 1, twenty thousand dollars, No. 2,
twenty-seven thousand dollars, No. 3, fifteen thousand dollars, No. 4,
thirteen thousand five hundred and eighteen dollars and one third.
Mrs. Lewis (for Albemarle), £1559 8s. paper money,
Mrs. Weldon, £39 18s. new, instead of £1600, old paper money,
Mrs. Blackburn (for Prince William), seven thousand five hundred and six
dollars, paper money.
Mrs. Randolph, the younger, of Chatsworth, eight hundred dollars.
Mrs. Fitzhugh and others, £558.
[NOTE E.]--FROM LORD CORNWALLIS
Lord Cornwallis’s Letter to Lieutenant Colonel Nisbet Balfour, Commander
at Ninety Six.
I have the happiness to inform you, that on Wednesday the 16th instant,
I totally defeated General Gates’s army. One thousand were killed and
wounded, about eight hundred taken prisoners. We are in possession
of eight pieces of brass cannon, all they had in the field, all their
ammunition wagons, a great number of arms, and one hundred and thirty
baggage wagons: in short, there never was a more complete victory. I
have written to Lieutenant Colonel Turnbull, whom I sent to join
Major Johnson on Little river, to push on after General Sumpter to the
Wax-haws, whose detachment is the only collected force of rebels in all
this country. Colonel Tarleton is in pursuit of Sumpter. Our loss is
about three hundred killed and wounded, chiefly of the thirty-third
regiment and volunteers, of Ireland. I have given orders that all the
inhabitants of this province, who have subscribed and taken part in this
revolt, should be punished with the greatest rigor; also, that those
who will not turn out, may be imprisoned, and their whole property taken
from them, and destroyed. I have also ordered that satisfaction should
be made for their estates, to those who have been injured and oppressed
by them. I have ordered, in the most positive manner, that every militia
man who has borne arms with us and afterwards joined the enemy, shall be
immediately hanged. I desire you will take the most rigorous measure
to punish the rebels in the district in which you command, and that you
will obey, in the strictest manner, the directions I have given in this
letter, relative to the inhabitants of this country.
Cornwallis.
August, 1780.
[NOTE F.]--TO LORD CORNWALLIS
TO LORD CORNWALLIS.
Portsmouth, Virginia, November 4, 1780.
My Lord,
I have been here near a week, establishing a post. I wrote to you to
Charleston, and by another messenger, by land. I cannot hear, for
a certainty, where you are: I wait your orders. The bearer is to
be handsomely rewarded, if he brings me any note or mark from your
Lordship.
A. L.