I am heartily ashamed. Gavin K. Watt
He made an observation about native participation that was remarkably at odds with Ross’s vitriolic rhetoric:
[T]he Indians did not attempt to meddle with any Women, Children, old men, or men not in arms, neither was any man or person killed by them, or striped of what they had on, only in the engagement, except one man who fired his piece at an Indian that Broke open the Door of his House, they took him out, and shot him, but did not as much as scalp him, which I think is remarkable.35
After bearing months of delays and participating in a major expedition, officers were at last appointed to the Royal Yorkers’ second battalion on November 12. Of the seven captains, the senior was Robert Leake, whose independent company (which had operated with 2KRR since its inception) was to be absorbed. Deservedly, Thomas Gumersall, who had managed the second battalion’s troops in lower Canada while upholding his responsibilities as captain-lieutenant of the first battalion’s Colonel’s Company, became second senior captain. Jacob Maurer was third senior, but would continue as the province’s DQMG. William Redford Crawford, who had served with distinction in the Quebec Indian Department and earlier in the year had been active in patrolling and raiding, was seventh. Four lieutenants entered from Leake’s. Five 1KRR ensigns, who had performed special duties in the Indian Department and Secret Service, were promoted to lieutenant and transferred. Two others came from the smaller loyalist corps and one was a patronage appointment. These promotions resulted in changes in the first battalion in which the senior lieutenant was promoted to captain-lieutenant, five ensigns to lieutenant, and seven Volunteers to ensign.
Officers were also appointed to the yet-unnamed “Corps of Loyalists to be Commanded by Major Edward Jessup.” As major-commandant, Edward would continue to nominally command a company. As noted above, two companies — one of invalids, the other of pensioners — were ostensibly captained by the two ex-lieutenant-colonels, Eben Jessup and John Peters. Of the five captains named, Justus Sherwood (who was to continue in the Secret Service) was senior; two others were from the KLA. William Fraser and Peter Drummond, who had recently commanded independent companies, had previously served in McAlpin’s American Volunteers.36
The same day, Major Gray forwarded to headquarters all the records relating to the unfortunate John Thomson and added a postscript, “The Soldier is still in danger of His Life from the Beating he has got from the Lt of Militia.”37
The fact that General Cornwallis’s southern army had been forced to submit at Yorktown had still not been confirmed by reliable sources in Quebec. On November 12, Riedesel wrote to the governor to offer a perceptive appreciation of the situation:
I think as you do, my dear General, about the state of our affairs in the South, and the paper I send you persuades me that we touch on the most interesting period of this unfortunate war. Although I believe that news that the Rebels publish so much, is exaggerated to sway the people, it appears however, that Lord Cornwallis is in a very critical situation, lacking, probably, provisions and the means of getting them. In this case his destiny will depend on the ship, if ours could be reinforced, and arrive in time enough at the mouth of the Chesapeake to properly give battle to the combined fleet, before Lord Cornwallis is reduced to the extremity, chance could be turned to our favor; and we, given a superiority by sea, can re-establish our affairs and end this war. But if the opposite happens, I can easily forsee unpleasantness to follow. I await news from New York with impatience. The Chiefs of Vermont appear very well disposed toward us, but the populace is always in agreement with Congress.38
On November 13, the prisoners that Ross had taken on his raid (a captain, subaltern, and twelve men) arrived in the lower province. The officers were to be held at Montreal and the men sent to Prison Island at Coteau-du-Lac. Coincidently, fifteen rebel officers had just been retaken after escaping from Île Perrot, an isolated island northeast of Montreal that had previously been considered entirely secure.39
Powell wrote to the governor from Niagara on November 13 with contradictory reports about the bateaux left by Ross at Ganaghsaraga. He had initially heard that both the sloop Caldwell and Ross’s boats had fallen into rebel hands; however, Tice calmed those fears by reporting that he had removed eleven boats from Ganaghsaraga to Oswego and destroyed the rest for want of hands to bring them off. This report was at odds with Tice’s earlier report to Guy Johnson that he and some Butler’s Rangers had been forced to repair one miserable old bateau in order to get away from Ganaghsaraga. Both of Tice’s accounts disagreed with David Hill’s account that he had destroyed all the boats. Perhaps there been a second depot that Hill had not found and Tice had gone back to retrieve those boats? Whatever the case, the Caldwell was still in British hands and the original rumour was quashed.
Thirteen Butler’s Rangers reported missing after the Canada Creek skirmish had joined the Indians at Oswego and Powell thought that more would do so.
This same day, Surgeon John Kerr, 2KRR, submitted his account for medical services rendered to the Oswegatchie and Mississauga Indians on Ross’s expedition.40
In a private letter dated November 15, Haldimand confessed to Riedesel his deep concern over the fate of Cornwallis:
By the latest intelligence, and on which I can rely, I am assured that Lord Cornwallis had been taken prisoner with his whole army, the news of which was received by express at Forts Johnsto[w]n and Arabia, the 19th of last month. The person who reports this [Lieutenant Walter Sutherland] … was on the 30th two miles from Fort Johnsto[w]n, and from that neighborhood at noon of that day heard rifle salutes of joy. He sent trusted persons into the two forts who reported … that the salutes were in celebration for the capture of Lord Cornwallis. If the news is true, how much misery can we expect in the coming days, in the long uncertainty — days seeming like years.... In that case I will fear that the Vermonters will but join [the rebels.]41
In a November 16 letter to Brigadier Powell, Haldimand praised Ross and expanded on the themes of poor native support and the overwhelming number of rebels encountered. “His conduct … gives me much satisfaction, as it seemed to be directed with prudence and enterprise. And notwithstanding the very superior force which were at all times opposed to him, had he been well supported, even by the few Indians Colonel Johnson sent with him, there is every reason to believe that the rebels would have severely felt the incursion and Major Ross’s loss would have been in a great measure prevented.” He reported that Ross would personally inform Powell of “the shameful, dastardly conduct of a people who cost Government so many thousands yearly.” The governor wrote he was unable to think “of the subject with any degree of patience” and expected Powell and Butler to paint his displeasure in the highest colours. “I desire you will do it fully, and what is [of] more consequence, let them feel it in the distribution of presents.”
He offered condolences for Butler’s loss of his eldest offspring, adding the conventional expression of sympathy that John must be proud of “the honourable cause in which his son fell.”
In the second letter to Powell that day, the governor dismissed any thought of Richard Wilkinson being commissioned in the Rangers. First, Wilkinson had “left and returned to the Service to suit the convenience of his private circumstances,” and second, the Rangers’ officers, who were having difficulty reconciling a few experienced Regular officers being put over them as captains, would “think it hard that an Officer