His Lordship received him in the most cordial and gentlemanly manner, and remarked that he would be pleased to order an investigation into his case and have the Indians who committed the outrage ordered down from the St. John river.
On September 2nd, 1771, a council met and an investigation took place. Letters and affidavits were produced, sworn to before Plato Denny and William Isherwood, Justices of the Peace for Campo Bello, where Lewis LeBlond, a Canadian, made oath, that he was told by Lewis Neptune, an Indian, that Captain Godfrey was to be burned out by Chief Pére Thomas' orders, and that other Indians of the St. John tribe were to perform the deed.
An affidavit was made by Gervase Say, an inhabitant of Gage township, sworn to before Francis Peabody, Justice of the Peace, in which it was stated that John Baptiste Caltpate, an Indian of the St. John tribe, had declared to him that Francis DeFalt, an Indian belonging to Pére Thomas' tribe, set fire to Captain Godfrey's house and store at Grimross.
A schedule of the Captain's losses, attested before one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace at Halifax, was also laid before the council. The reader will not be troubled with the items, suffice it to say the losses, including lands, amounted to seven thousand four hundred and sixty-two pounds.
His Excellency, finding that Captain Godfrey had acted conformably to the rules and regulations of the Province, returned to him his bond that he had given the government for carrying on a legitimate trade with the Indians.
He was also satisfied that the Captain's losses were on account of the action of the savages, and being fully convinced of the great hardships and privations the Captain and his distressed wife and family had undergone, he was pleased to give him an honourable clearance out of the province, according to the regulations of said province, and also to recommend him to the protection of the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough, at that time first Lord of Trade and Plantations for public relief. The Governor had it not in his power to grant Captain Godfrey any suitable gratuity for the great loss he had sustained.
COPY OF LORD CAMPBELL'S LETTER TO LORD HILLSBOROUGH.
HALIFAX, October 9th, 1771.
My Lord:
The gentleman who will deliver this to you was lately a Captain in the 52nd Regiment of foot, and came out to this province in August, 1769, with his wife and a large family, to settle on some lands on river St. John, which he had purchased before he left Europe, with a view of carrying on trade with the Indians. I have frequent complaints of those Indians since Fort Frederick, situate on the entrance of the St. John river, has been dismantled, and the garrison, which consisted of an officer's command, reduced to a corporal and four.