[28] The record of these bloody years is hinted in the number of prisoners brought to Niagara. On this topic Frank H. Severance writes [In Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier, pp. 89-91. Mr. Severance, Secretary of the Buffalo Historical Society, has ably taken the place of the eminent scholar of the Niagara country O. H. Marshall. In his volume above quoted Mr. Severance provides a most interesting, scholarly series of papers which no one who loves New York's old frontier should miss. Our story of the famine at De Nonville's fort was written with Mr. Severance's book open before us.]:
"Just how many American prisoners were brought into Fort Niagara during this period I am unable to say, though it is possible that from the official correspondence of the time figures could be had on which a very close estimate could be based. My examination of the subject warrants the assertion that several hundred were brought in by the war-parties under Indian, British, and Tory leaders. In this correspondence, very little of which has ever been published, one may find such entries as the following:
"Guy Johnson wrote from Fort Niagara, June 30, 1781:
"'In my last letter of the 24th inst. I had just time to enclose a copy of Lieut. Nelles's letter with an account of his success, since which he arrived at this place with more particular information by which I find that he killed thirteen and took seven (the Indians not having reckoned two of the persons whom they left unscalped). . . .'
"Again:
"'I have the honour to transmit to Your Excellency a general letter containing the state of the garrison and of my Department to the 1st inst., and a return, at the foot, of the war parties that have been on service this year, . . . by which it will appear that they have killed and taken during the season already 150 persons, including those last brought in. . . .'
"Again he reports, August 30, 1781:
"'The party with Capt. Caldwell and some of the Indians with Capt. Lottridge are returning, having destroyed several settlements in Ulster County, and about 100 of the Indians are gone against other parts of the frontiers, and I have some large parties under good leaders still on service as well as scouts towards Fort Pitt. . . .'
"Not only are there many returns of this sort, but also tabulated statements, giving the number of prisoners sent down from Fort Niagara to Montreal on given dates, with their names, ages, names of their captors, and the places where they were taken. There were many shipments during the summer of '83, and the latest return of this sort which I have found in the archives is dated August 1st of that year, when eleven prisoners were sent from the fort to Montreal. It was probably not far from this time that the last American prisoner of the Revolution was released from Fort Niagara. But let the reader beware of forming hasty conclusions as to the cruelty or brutality of the British at Fort Niagara. In the first place, remember that harshness or kindness in the treatment of the helpless depends in good degree—and always has depended—upon the temperament and mood of the individual custodian. There were those in command at Fort Niagara who appear to have been capable of almost any iniquity. Others gave frequent and conspicuous proofs of their humanity. Remember, secondly, that the prisoners primarily belonged to the Indians who captured them. The Indian custom of adoption—the taking into the family circle of a prisoner in place of a son or husband who had been killed by the enemy—was an Iroquois custom, dating back much further than their acquaintance with the English. Many of the Americans who were detained in this fashion by their Indian captors, probably never were given over to the British. Some, as we know, like Mary Jemison, the White Woman of the Genesee, adopted the Indian mode of life and refused to leave it. Others died in captivity, some escaped. Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish were first prisoners, then utilised as interpreters, but remained among the Indians. And in many cases, especially of women and children, we know that they were got away from the Indians by the British officers at Fort Niagara, only after considerable trouble and expense. In these cases the British were the real benefactors of the Americans, and the kindness in the act cannot always be put aside on the mere ground of military exchange, prisoner for prisoner. Gen. Haldimand is quoted to the effect that he 'does not intend to enter into an exchange of prisoners, but he will not add to the distresses attending the present war, by detaining helpless women and children from their families.'"
In justice to Col. Guy Johnson's administration at Fort Niagara, as well as to give one of the clearest (if biased) views of the trials and perplexities of those hard days, we reproduce a "Review of Col. Johnson's Transactions"; as Mr. Severance notes, this review shows "the real state of affairs at Fort Niagara towards the close of the Revolutionary war" better than does almost any other document [I quote Mr. Severance's copy from _Canadian Archives_, Series B, vol. 106, p. 122, _et seq._]:
"Montreal, 24th March, 1782.
"Before Colonel Johnson arrived at Niagara in 1779 the Six Nations lived in their original possessions the nearest of which was about 100 and the farthest about 300 miles from that post. Their warriors were called upon as the service required parties, which in 1776 amounted to about 70 men, and the expenses attending them, and a few occasional meetings ought to have been and he presumes were a mere Trifle when compared with what must attend their situation when all [were] driven to Niagara, exposed to every want, to every temptation, and with every claim which their distinguished sacrifices and the tenor of Soloman [solemn] Treaties had entitled them to from Government. The years 1777 & 1778 exhibited only a larger number occasionally employed and for their fidelity and attachment to Government they were invaded in 1779 by a rebel army reported to be from 5 to 600 men with a train of Artillery who forced them to retire to Niagara leaving behind them very fine plantations of corn and vegetables, with their cloathing, arms, silver works, Wampum Kettles and Implements of Husbandry, the collection of ages of which were destroyed in a deliberate manner and march of the rebels. Two villages only escaped that were out of their route.
"The Indians having always apprehended that their distinguished loyalty might draw some such calamity towards them had stipulated that under such circumstances they effected [expected] to have their losses made up as well as a liberal continuation of favours and to be supported at the expence of Government till they could be reinstated in their former possessions. They were accordingly advised to form camps around Niagara which they were beginning to do at the time of Colonel Johnson's arrival who found them much chagrined and prepared to reconcile them to their disaster which he foresaw would be a work of time requiring great judgment and address in effecting which he was afterwards successful beyond his most sanguine expectations, and this was the state of the Indians at Colonel Johnson's arrival. As to the state and regulation of Colonel Johnson's officers and department at that period he found the duties performed by 2 or three persons the rest little acquainted with them and considered as less capable of learning them, and the whole number inadequate to that of the Indians, and the then requisite calls of the service, and that it was necessary after refusing the present wants of the Indians to keep their minds occupied by constant military employment, all which he laid before the Commander in Chief who frequently honoured his conduct with particular approbation."
[29] Here, the story runs, the brother of Sir Walter Scott concocted the plots and outlines of Sir Walter's famous novels and sent them on to England to be polished up for publication—a story worthy of a Hennepin.
[30] The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K.B., by Ferdinand Brock Tupper, p. 16. This most interesting volume has furnished very much of the material for this chapter. D. B. Read's Life and Times of General Brock is an excellent book for popular use and will be found quoted herein.
[31] One cause of desertion seems to have been the ubiquitous American girl. In a later letter Brock wrote:
"Not a desertion has been attempted by any of the 49th for the last ten months, with the exception, indeed, of Hogan. He served Glegg, who took him with him to the Falls of Niagara, where a fair damsel persuaded him to this act of madness, for the fellow cannot possibly gain his bread by labour, as he has half killed himself with excessive drinking; and we know he cannot live upon love alone."
[32] A letter from Colonel Kempt runs: "I have just received a long letter . . . giving me an account of a splendid ball given by you to the beau monde of Niagara and its vicinity, and the manner in which she speaks of your liberality and hospitality reminds me of the many pleasant hours I have passed under your roof. We have no such parties now, and the indisposition of Sir James having prevented the usual public days at the castle, nothing more stupid than Quebec now is can be imagined."