"Sir,
"I have received a letter dated the 1st January last, signed by you, in answer to mine of the 12th November.
"Its contents I communicated to Lieutenant Colonel Bolton, the commanding officer of this garrison, &c. by whom I am directed to acquaint you, that he had no objection that an exchange of prisoners, as mentioned in your letter, should take place; but not being fully empowered by his Excellency—General Haldimand [FN]—to order the same immediately to be put in execution, has thought proper I should go down to the Commander-in-chief for his direction in the matter."
[FN] General Sir Frederick Haldimand had previous to this time superseded Sir Guy Carleton in the command of the Canadas.
"In the mean time, Colonel Butler, as he ever has done on every other occasion, will make every effort in his power to have all the prisoners, as well those belonging to your troops, as the women and children, in captivity among the different Indian nations, collected and sent in to this post to be forwarded to Crown Point, should the exchange take place by the way of Canada, or to Oswego, if settled there. In either case Colonel Bolton desires me to inform you that the prisoners shall receive from him what assistance their wants may require, which prisoners have at all times received at this post.
"The disagreeable situation of your people in the Indian villages, as well as ours amongst you, will induce me to make all the expedition in my power to Canada, (Quebec,) in order that the exchange may be settled as soon as possible. For the good of both, I make no doubt that his Excellency General Haldimand will acquiesce in the proper exchange. The season of the year renders it impossible that it should take place before the 10th or 15th May next. However, I shall write you, by the way of Crown Point, General Haldimand's determination, and when and where the exchange will be most agreeable to him to be made, I could wish Mrs. Butler and her family, including Mrs. Scheehan and son, and Mrs. Wall, were permitted to go to Canada in the Spring, even should the exchange be fixed at Ontario.
"It is not our present business, sir, to enter into an altercation, or to reflect on the conduct of either the British or the Continental forces, or on that of each other; but since you have charged (on report, I must suppose) the British officers in general with inhumanity, and Colonel Butler and myself in particular; in justice to them, and in vindication of his and my own honor and character, I am under the disagreeable necessity to declare the charge unjust and void of truth, and which can only tend to deceive the world, though a favorite cry of the Congress on every occasion, whether in truth or not.
"We deny any cruelties to have been committed at Wyoming, either by whites or Indians; so far to the contrary, that not a man, woman, or child was hurt after the capitulation, or a woman or child before it, and none taken into captivity. Though, should you call it inhumanity the killing men in arms in the field, we in that case plead guilty. The inhabitants killed at Cherry Valley does not lay at my door—my conscience acquits. If any are guilty (as accessories) it's yourselves; at least the conduct of some of your officers. First, Colonel Hartley, of your forces, sent to the Indians the enclosed, being a copy of his letter charging them with crimes they never committed, and threatening them and their villages with fire and sword and no quarters. The burning of one of their villages, then inhabited only by a few families—your friends—who imagined they might remain in peace and friendship with you, till assured a few hours before the arrival of your troops that they should not even receive quarters, took to the woods; and, to complete the matter, Colonel Denniston and his people appearing again in arms with Colonel Hartley, after a solemn capitulation and engagement not to bear arms during the war, and Colonel Denniston not performing a promise to release a number of soldiers belonging to Colonel Butler's corps of rangers, then prisoners among you, were the reasons assigned by the Indians to me, after the destruction of Cherry Valley, for their not acting in the same manner as at Wyoming. They added, that being charged by their enemies with what they never had done, and threatened by them, they had determined to convince you it was not fear which had prevented them from committing the one, and that they did not want spirit to put your threats against them in force against yourselves.
"The prisoners sent back by me, or any now in our or the Indians' hands, must declare I did every thing in my power to prevent the Indians killing the prisoners, or taking women and children captive, or in any wise injuring them. Colonel Stacey and several other officers of yours, when exchanged, will acquit me; and must further declare, that they have received every assistance, before and since their arrival at this post, that could be got to relieve their wants. I must, however, beg leave, by the bye, to observe, that I experienced no humanity, or even common justice, during my imprisonment among you.