Henry Hare: Spy or Murderer?

Mannesvillette Elihu Dearing Brown (1810-1896). View of the
Mohawk River near Little Falls, 1854. Findlay Galleries, New York.

In the summer of 1777, during the Revolutionary War, a significant event occurred at Irondequoit Bay on Lake Ontario. After a lengthy council hosted by John Butler of the British Indian Department, four of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy decided to abandon their neutrality and "take up the hatchet" against the American rebels.

For the rest of the war, officers from the Indian Department worked closely with the Haudenosaunee. Some of them acquired a reputation of being "more savage than the savages themselves." One of these officers was Lieutenant Henry Hare.

On July 27, 1777, just prior to the Siege of Fort Stanwix, three girls were picking blackberries several hundred yards from the fort when they attacked by a group of Indigenous warriors. Two of the girls were killed and scalped. The third was wounded but managed to escape.

Nearly two years later, Hare was captured by the Patriots and sentenced to hang as a spy. According to several secondary sources he also confessed to the murder of one of the girls.

Hare was hanged at Canajoharie on 21 June 1779 along with Sergeant William Newberry of Butler's Rangers. Hare was found guilty of spying, however, the record of his trial contains no mention of his having committed murder.

Why then do so many accounts of Hare's capture, trial, and hanging include the accusation of murder? For example, Canadian historian Gavin Watt's in his recent No Despicable Enemy wrote:

Hare was charged with lurking about the camp as a spy. He testified he had come from Canadasaga with nineteen Indians a fortnight earlier.... Newberry gave similar evidence, implicated many local Tories, adding, “Hair’s wife went backwards and forwards every day to gain intelligence for us.” In addition to spying, both men were accused of murder. Hare confessed to killing Caty Steers outside the gates of Fort Stanwix just before the siege of 1777, and Newberry of killing a Mitchell daughter during the Cherry Valley tragedy.... The court found Hare and Newberry guilty and sentenced them to be hanged, which was done at Canajoharie eight days apart.  

The are several contemporary accounts of the attack on the girls but none that specifically mention Hare. In his journal, Ensign William Colbrath of the 3rd New York Regiment wrote:

July 27th—Three Girls belonging to the Inhabitants, being about two Hundred yards from Our Out Centinels, were fired on by a party of Indians, two of whom were killed and Scalped the other wounded in two places, neither of them Dangerously.

Colbrath noted that on the following day:

The Colonel sent off those women which belonged to the Garrison which have children with whom went the Man that was Scalped, the Girl that was Wounded Yesterday, and the Sick in the Hospital.

In a letter to Colonel Goose Van Schaick, dated July 28, 1777, Colonel Peter Gansevoort, the commanding officer of Fort Stanwix, gave the following account:

Yesterday at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, our garrison was alarmed with the firing of four guns. A party of men was instantly dispatched to the place where the guns were fired, which was in the edge of the woods, about 500 yards from the fort; but they were too late. The villains were fled, after having shot three girls who were out picking raspberries, two of whom were lying scalped and tomahawked, one dead, the other expiring, who died in about half an hour after she was brought home. The third had two balls through her shoulder, but made out to make her escape; her wounds are not thought dangerous. By best discoveries we have made, there were four Indians who perpetrated these murders. I had four men with arms just past that place, but these mercenaries of Britain came not to fight, but to lie in wait to murder; and it is equally the same to them, if they can get a scalp, whether it is a soldier or an innocent babe.

Another detailed account was written by Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett, who was second-in-command at Fort Stanwix during the siege. Willett's narrative was published in 1831 by his son and although based on Willet's own manuscripts, inexplicably assigns the murders to July 3, 1777:

Sunday, the 3rd of July, being a very warm, clear day, as Colonel Willett lay resting in his room about noon, three guns, fired in quick succession, gave him warning that there were Indians near. He ran to the gate of the fort, and on reaching the parapet of the glacis, saw a sentinel running towards the lower edge of it, and at a short distance from him a girl, also running, holding in her hand a small basket. On their coming nearer, he saw blood running down the breast of the little girl, who, as he afterwards learned, with two other girls, had been picking blackberries, not two hundred yards from the foot of the glacis, when they were fired at by the Indians. Upon going to the spot, Colonel Willett found the other two girls killed and scalped.... The girl who had made her escape, had been shot through the upper part of her shoulder: the wound proved to be slight, and she soon recovered.

Finally there is a letter in the collection of the Fort Stanwix National Monument that identifies the three girls. The letter is thought to have been written by Colonel Gansevoort and sent to the Tryon Committee of Safety a few days after the attack.

One of the Children who was killed & scalped a girl of 13 years of age & daughter of one John Steere who... served the King of Great Britain... an old man and unfit for any kind of Service. yet, that King... has thus requited him for his former Service. The Girl who received the wound in her shoulder is 16 years of age the Daughter of one George Reyter... a soldier in... the 4th Battalion of Royal Americans during the late war... the other is a Servant Girl of... Mr Roof the Principal inhabitant of this place... The Girl's name is Lenea Stephane Age 20 years...

In the afternoon of August 6, while most of the Loyalist and Indigenous forces at the siege were engaged at the Battle of Oriskany, Lieutenant Colonel Willett led a sortie against their encampments. Both Willett and Colbrath list brass kettles, blankets, musket balls, gunpowder, clothing and four or five "colours" among the spoils, however, Colbrath added:

... four scalps the Indians had lately taken being entirely fresh and left in their Camp. Two of the Scalps taken are Supposed to be those of the Girls being neatly Dressed and the Hair platted.

On June 19, 1779, Lieutenant Hare was captured close to his home near Fort Hunter. Sergeant Newberry was apprehended a short time later. The prisoners were brought to Canajoharie where Brigadier General James Clinton had established his headquarters in preparation for that summer's expedition against the Haudenosaunee. A court marshal was held the following day with Colonel Gansevoort presiding.

Details of the trial are found in the journal of Captain Andrew Porter of the 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment who acted as judge advocate. Hare was charged with "lurking about the camp," found guilty, and sentenced to hang. There is no indication in Porter's detailed account that Hare was accused of anything other than spying. Newberry was similarly charged, found guilty, and sentenced to hang, but again there is no indication that he was accused of anything other than spying.

The first published suggestion that Hare may have murdered the daughter of John Speer at Fort Stanwix is a footnote in The Frontiersmen of New York published in 1883:

When Lieut. Hare was in custody, at the request of Gen. Clinton, he was asked by Johannes Roof if he did not kill Caty Steers, at Fort Stanwix, in 1777; "For," said Roof, "you was seen with your hands in her hair." He confessed that he had killed and scalped her.—John Roof, Jr.

The author, Jeptha Root Simms, was an acknowledged authority on the history of upstate New York. In preparation for his earlier History of Schoharie County, and Border Wars of New York, Simms had interviewed many surviving veterans of the Revolutionary War including John Roof, the son of Johannes Roof.

Frederick Coffay Yohn (1875-1933). Herkimer at
the Battle of Oriskany. Utica Public Library

Johannes Roof and Anna Maria Leunhard had settled in the vicinity of Fort Stanwix in 1760. Anna Maria and her five children including 16-year-old John and three-month-old Mary were likely with the group that was evacuated on July 28, 1777. John related to Simms that his family were sheltered at the home of Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Oriskany. Herkimer had his leg amputated shortly before his death and John claimed to have helped bury it. The following year Roof enlisted in the 1st Regiment of Tryon Militia and served during the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 and the Battle of Johnstown in 1781.

In 1778, Johannes Roof purchased a 325 acres farm in Canajoharie which included a stone building that became known as "Roof's Tavern." In 1779, General Clinton may have used "Roof's Tavern" for his headquarters and housed prisoners there. Johannes Roof may therefore have had the opportunity to speak to Hare, but why would General Clinton ask Roof to conduct an interrogation? And why did Captain Porter not record the fact in his journal if Hare had confessed to the murder?

Roof's accusation is problematic. According to Willett, Colbrath, and Gansevoort, the girls were quite some distance from the fort, and not close to any sentries. The only possible witness, the 16-year-old daughter of George Reyter, was wounded and running for her life, and would have been unlikely to have recognized Hare.

Nor can it be shown that Hare was in the vicinity of Fort Stanwix on the date of the murders. As an Indian Department officer he likely accompanied the expedition commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger against Fort Stanwix, and may have participated in scouting missions with groups of Indigenous warriors. He is not named, however, in any primary source that documents the expedition. Much more is known about the activities of his older brother, Captain John Hare, who played an active role in the expedition until his death at the Battle of Oriskany.

Before St. Leger's expedition left Lachine, a patrol led by John Hare and Mohawk chief John Deserontyon was dispatched to Fort Stanwix by senior Indian Department officer Daniel Claus. Hare and Deserontyon ambushed a work detail from the fort, and took four scalps and five prisoners including a Patriot officer. Several days later they rendezvoused with St. Leger's expedition on the St. Lawrence between Oswegatichie (Ogdenburg) and Buck Island (Carleton Island).

Only July 24, when the expedition was encamped at the mouth of the Salmon River, St. Leger dispatched John Hare and James Wilson with a group of Mississauga and Seneca to "gather fresh intelligence." In his doctoral dissertation His Majesty’s "Savage" Allies, Paul Stevens theorized that indigenous warriors from this group were responsible for the attack on the girls on July 27.

On July 30, Hare and Wilson met up with Lieutenant Henry Bird's detachment of regulars at Nine Mile Point on Lake Oneida. Bird had been ordered by St. Leger to capture the Lower Landing on the Mohawk River so as to prevent American resupply. This was accomplished on August 2 just after reinforcements, provisions, and stores had reached the fort.

John Hare and James Wilson were both killed at the Battle of Oriskany four days later.

Frederick Bartoli. Cornplanter, 1796.
New York Historical Society

In his Life of Joseph Brant, eminent American historian William Leete Stone identified Seneca chief Cornplanter as the perpetrator of the attack on the girls. In February 1797, Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), had travelled from Upper Canada to Philadelphia to meet with influential British diplomat Robert Liston. At Canadasaga, Thayendanegea was joined by Cornplanter who was also travelling to Philadelphia. Thayendanegea and Cornplanter journeyed down the Mohawk Valley to Canajoharie where they were hosted by Hendrick Frey.

Another of Frey's guests was Albany physician Dr. Jonathan Eights. Eights related to Stone that Frey and his guests "adjourned" to Root's Tavern where "many of their adventures during the war were recounted." At some point Cornplanter disclosed that he had shot a girl picking berries outside Fort Stanwix, whereupon the landlord "could hardly be restrained from doing violence" against the Seneca chief.

A few weeks after the hangings of Hare and Newberry, General Clinton mentioned the executions in a letter to his wife:

I have nothing further to acquaint you of, Except that we apprehended a Certain Lt. Henry Hare and a Serjt. Newberry, both of Coll. Butler’s Regt., who Confesed that they left the Seneca Country with Sixty three Indians and two white men, which Divided themselves in three parties, one party was to attack Schoharry, another party Cherry Valley and the Mohawk River, and the other party to Sculk about Fort Schuyler and the upper part of the Mohawk River to take prisoners or Sculps. I had them tryed by a Genl. Court Martial for spies, who Sentenced them both to be hanged, which was Done accordingly at Conojoharrie, to the Satisfaction of all the Inhabitants of that place that were friends to their Country, as they were known to be very active in almost all the Murders that were Committed on these Frontiers; they were Inhabitants of Tryon County and had Each a wife and several Children who Came to See them and beg their Lives

Major General Philip Schuyler would later praise Clinton: "In Executing Hare you have rid the State of the Greatest villain that was In It. I hope his abbettors In the County will meet with a Similar Exaltation." Hyperbole, perhaps, as other "villains" such as Walter Butler and Thayendanegea were far more notorious and still active.

The hanging of Henry Hare and William Newberry was but one incident in the "genocidal" Sullivan-Clinton campaign against the Haudenosaunee in the summer of 1779. Over 40 Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga villages were destroyed, and more than 5000 refugees fled to Fort Niagara. The expedition, however, failed to curb the Haudenosaunee's ability to raid settlements in the Mohawk Valley.

The following summer, Thayendanegea led a devastating attack on Canajoharie. According to Stone, "the fairest district of the valley was in a single day rendered a scene of wailing and desolation." Over 100 houses and barns, as well as a gristmill, two small forts, and the Reformed Church were set on fire. About 300 head of cattle and 200 horses were killed or taken. At least 14 inhabitants were killed, and many were taken prisoner, although Thayendanegea later released many of the women and children.

American historian Holger Hook describes the Revolution as American's first civil war. It was a war fought between Patriots and Loyalists, and between white settlers and indigenous tribes. It was a war in which injustices and atrocities occurred on both sides. Henry Hare was neither a saint nor a demon, so it is difficult to judge whether his hanging was an injustice or an understandable reaction to atrocity.

Sources:

Bilharz, Joy. Oriskany: A Place of Great Sadness. National Park Service, 2009.

Colbrath, William. Days of Siege: A Journal of the Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777, edited by Larry Lowenthal, Eastern Acorn Press, 1983

Graymont, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American Revolution. Syracuse University Press, 1972.

Kelsay, Isabel Thompson. Joseph Brant, 1743-1807: Man of Two Worlds. Syracuse University Press, 1984.

Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, vol. 5. State of New York, 1901.

Simms, Jeptha Root.  History of Schoharie County, and Border Wars of New York. Albany, 1845.

Simms, Jeptha Root. Frontiersmen of New York, 2 vols. Albany, 1883.

Stevens, Paul L., His Majesty’s "Savage" Allies: British Policy and the Northern Indians During the Revolutionary War — The Carleton Years, 1774–1778. Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1984.

Stone, William L. Life of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea: Including the Indian Wars of the American Revolution. 2 vols. Albany, 1838.

Watt, Gavin K. Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley: The St Leger Expedition of 1777. Dundurn Press, 2002.

Watt, Gavin K. No Despicable Enemy—1779: The Continental Army Destroys Indian Territory. Global Heritage Press, 2019.

Willett, William M. A Narrative of The Military Actions of Colonel Marinus Willett, Taken Chiefly from His Own Manuscript, edited by William Willett. New York, 1831.

Unequivocal Proofs of Loyalty: John Hare (1735–1777)

A Sketch of the Siege of Fort Schuyler [Stanwix]
by L. Flury, 1838. Source: New York Public Library

John Hare was the oldest of four brothers who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution. His four children, in their 1793 Upper Canada Land Petition, stated that their deceased father "gave the most unequivocal proofs of his Loyalty from the first Appearance of rebellious Commotions in America, by taking a decided & active part for Government." Hare served as a Indian Department officer^[1] during the Revolutionary War, and was one of only seven British fatalities at the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777 when a Loyalist and Indigenous force ambushed a Patriot column marching to the relief of Fort Stanwix.

John, the son of John and Mary Hare, is thought to have been born about 1735 in the vicinity of Fort Hunter in the Mohawk Valley region of New York. The earliest record of the Hare family in the Mohawk Valley is the 1739 baptism of John's sister Catherine, so John may have been born elsewhere.

During the Seven Years War, Hare served in Captain William McGinnis's company of the New York Provincials, along with his father and two of his brothers. At the Battle of Lake George on September 8, 1755, McGinnis's company and Nathaniel Folson's company of New Hampshire Provincials were dispatched from Fort Edward to reinforce Major General William Johnson's forces to the north. McGinnis and Folson encountered and captured the French baggage train, then ambushed a body of withdrawing Canadien militia and indigenous warriors. William McGinnis was mortally wounded during this engagement and command of the company passed to his brother, Robert McGinnis. Hare remained in McGinnis's company until at least May 1756. He later served as a private in Captain Harry Isaac Wendell's company of Roger's Rangers.

Hare married Margaret Davis about 1759. Their first child, Mary (Polly), was born on November 30, 1761 and was baptised at the Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia. Their only son, William, was born on May 6, 1764 and was baptised at the Reformed Dutch Church of Caughnawaga. Sarah was born on 28 Feb 1766, Elizabeth was born about 1768, and Catherine was born about 1770.

Prior to the Revolutionary War, John and Margaret lived near Johnstown north of the Mohawk River. In her claim for losses submitted after the war, Margaret stated that they leased their property from William Johnson; kept cows, sheep and horses; and had two indentured servants. Johnson was the largest single landowner in the Mohawk Valley. He had founded Johnstown in 1762 and had built his Georgian style home, Johnson Hall, near Johnstown in 1763.

When Tryon County was created from Albany County in 1772, Hare was appointed Undersherriff and given responsibility for the gaol at Johnstown. In 1775, he refused to house a prisoner who had been arbitrarily arrested, and had threatened to shoot the prisoner's escort. The Tryon County Committee of Safety considered arresting Hare but voted against doing so.

Portrait of Sir John Johnson
by John Mare, 1772, Source:
Johnson Hall State Historic Park

When the Revolutionary War began, Sir John Johnson, a staunch "Tory" and the son of Sir William, built a palisade around Johnson Hall, gathered military supplies, and secretly began recruiting from his mainly Highland Scots tenants with the intent of forming a Loyalist regiment in Tryon County. In January 1776, Major General Philip Schuyler, supported by the Albany militia, disarmed Johnson and his followers. Johnson was required to sign a parole for his future good behaviour. John and Margaret Hare had some of their provisions and household goods plundered during this incursion.

In May 1776, Schuyler ordered Johnson's arrest. Forewarned, Johnson fled to Canada, leaving his pregnant wife, Polly, and their two children behind at Johnson Hall. With him were 170 of his followers including John Hare. To evade capture the group followed Mohawk guides north through the Adirondack wilderness. After a gruelling journey of 19 days by foot and canoe, they reached the Awkwasasne settlement of Kana:takon (St. Regis) on the St Lawrence River. In a letter to his brother-in-law Daniel Claus, Johnson wrote that his men were "almost starved and wore out for want of provisions, being nine days without anything to subsist upon but wild Onions, Roots and the leaves of Beech Trees."

After a few days of rest, Johnson proceeded to the Île de Montréal, arriving on June 18, 1776, almost a month after leaving Johnstown. The following day Johnson was granted permission by Governor Guy Carleton to raise the provincial regiment known as the King's Royal Regiment of New York, also known as the Royal Yorkers.

Margaret later provided details about John's participation in Johnson's escape to Canada:

That on the 19th of May 1776 in Company with Sir John Johnson he [John Hare] left the place of his abode and came through the Wood to Canada when he was appointed Capt in the Indian Department in consequence of which he came twice from Canada to Tryon County on Government business and on the last time brought away with him to Canada upwards of Ninety Men.

After his departure with Johnson, Hare's home had been plundered by soldiers from the Continental Army's newly formed 3rd New Jersey Regiment commanded by Colonel Elias Dayton. Timber from the house was used to construct a palisade and blockhouses around the gaol, while fence railings were used as firewood.

With her claim for losses, Margaret included an inventory of the damages dated June 20, 1776, and prepared by her husband when "he was home on a scout from Canada"—only two days after Johnson had arrived at the Île de Montréal. If the date and attribution are accurate, then Johnson may have sent Hare back to the Mohawk Valley from Kana:takon before leaving for the Île de Montréal.

In March 1777, Hare and three others were dispatched by Major James Gray, Johnson's second-in-command, to gather intelligence in preparation for Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's campaign. In a letter to Governor Carleton, Gray described Hare as "a man very fit for the service and that can be much depended upon."

The 1777 Saratoga Campaign was an attempt by the British to capture Albany and gain control of the Hudson River valley. In the main thrust of the attack, 7,800 British and Hessian forces led by Burgoyne moved southward from Canada and captured Fort Ticonderoga on July 6. Burgoyne slowly continued his advance towards Albany but was ultimately forced to surrender following the Battles of Saratoga on September 19 and October 7.

Route of the St. Leger Expedition. Source: National Park Service

A secondary thrust from the west, led by Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger of the 34th Regiment, had the goal of capturing Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River before proceeding eastward to Albany. St. Leger, who was brevetted a Brigadier General, assembled a force of British regulars from the 8th and 34th Regiments, Loyalists from the Royal Yorkers commanded by Sir John Johnson, a detachment of Hessian jägers, Indian Department rangers commanded by John Butler, and several hundred indigenous warriors, mainly Seneca and Mohawk, led by Sayenqueraghta (Old Smoke), Cornplanter, and Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant).

On June 26, 1777, the day before St. Leger's expedition departed Lachine on the Île de Montréal, Daniel Claus, who had been given responsibility for the Indigenous warriors, dispatched a patrol led by Hare and Mohawk chief John Deserontyon to Fort Stanwix. Their mission was to determined the strength of the garrison and the state of the fortifications, and to take prisoners if possible. Claus had strong doubts about the accuracy of earlier intelligence that held that Fort Stanwix was undermanned and poorly maintained.

On July 3, 1777, Hare and Deserontyon's patrol encountered a work party just over a kilometre away from Fort Stanwix. Four scalps and five prisoners were taken, including an officer. One of the dead soldiers was left "shockingly butchered."

Hare and Deserontyon rendezvoused with Claus as the expedition proceeded up the St. Lawrence River towards Oswego on Lake Ontario. Claus interrogated the prisoners separately then reported to St. Leger. St. Leger, however, decided to "make little of the prisoners' intelligence" as he considered Hare, Deserontyon, and rebel prisoners" to be "dubious sources." There must have been some doubt in his mind, however, because St. Leger dispatched Hare to gather fresh intelligence. St. Leger would later write to General Burgoyne:

The accounts we received in Canada concerning Fort Stanwix were the most erroneous that can be conceived. Instead of the unsuitable and unfinished work we were taught to expect, I found it a respectable fortress strongly garrisoned with 700 men.

As the expedition prepared to ascend the Oswego River to Oneida Lake, St. Leger sent Lieutenant Henry Bird of the 8th Regiment to take the Lower Landing on the Mohawk so as to prevent supplies reaching Fort Stanwix. Bird's detachment was joined by Hare and a number of their Indigenous allies. Bird's party captured the landing on July 31, several hours after reinforcements, ammunition and stores had arrived and been transported to the fort.

St. Leger arrived at Fort Stanwix with the main body of troops in the evening of August 2. Three days later he received word that a relief column of Tryon County militia and Oneida warriors were advancing up the Mohawk Valley under the command of Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer. St. Leger dispatched an intercepting force that included the Mohawk under Joseph Brant, the Seneca under Sayenqueraghta and Cornplanter, John Butler's Indian Department rangers, and a detachment of the Royal Yorkers under Captain Stephen Watts. Watts and Butler deferred to the Seneca chiefs who laid out an ambush at Oriskany, eight kilometres east of Fort Stanwix.

Nine days after the battle, John Butler described the events of the Battle of Oriskany in a letter to Governor Carleton:

At 10 o'clock next morning near the Oriskany field we heard the Rebels in full march with a convoy of 15 wagons of provisions and stores. We were immediately formed by the Seneca Chiefs who took the lead in this action, in concurrence with Sir John Johnson and myself. Sir John was posted on the road to give the enemy a volley as they advanced. Myself with the Indians and 20 Rangers were posted to flank them in the woods. This disposition was soon after a little altered by the Indians while the enemy were advancing, and when they were near enough threw in a heavy fire on the Rebels and made a shocking slaughter among them with their spears and hatchets. The Rebels, however, recovering themselves, fell back to a more advantageous ground and maintained a running fight for about an hour and a half. At length the Indians with a detachment of the Yorkers and Rangers, pursuing that blow utterly defeated them with the loss of 500 killed, wounded and taken. Many of the latter were conformibly to the Indian custom afterwards killed. Of the New Yorkers Captain McDonnell was killed, Captain Watts dangerously wounded and one subaltern; of the Rangers Captains Wilson and Hare killed and one private wounded. The Indians suffered much, having 33 killed and 29 wounded. The Senecas alone lost 17 men, among whom were several of their chief warriors and had 16 wounded. During the whole action the Indians showed the greatest zeal for His Majesty's cause and had they not been a little too precipitate, scarcely a Rebel of the party had escaped. Most of the leading Rebels are cut off in the action so that any further attempt from that quarter is not to be expected.

John Hare's death during the Battle of Oriskany is recorded in several primary sources but details are lacking. How he died, however, can be inferred from the statement of Adam Miller, a soldier in the 3rd Regiment of New York Militia, collected by early American historian William Stone and later published in Richard Nelson Green's History of the Mohawk Valley. Miller stated that he was taken prisoner by John Hare soon after the death of his company commander, Captain John Davis. Colonel Bellinger of the 4th Regiment, seeing a soldier being dragged off, directed his men to fire at Miller's captors, which allowed the soldier to break free and presumably killed Hare.

St. Leger lifted the Siege of Fort Stanwix on August 22 upon receiving misleading intelligence that a substantial relief column commanded by Major General Benedict Arnold was quickly approaching.

Anger over the death of so many of the Tryon County militia resulted in significant persecution and harassment of the remaining Loyalist families in the Mohawk River valley. On August 25 the Tryon County Committee of Safety ordered the internment of several families including the wife and children of John Butler. While Margaret Hare was not confined, she "was plundered and robbed of almost all that she had, and has had many and difficult Struggles in maintaining her Family, in she suffered many hardships unknown to her before."

In an undated petition to the Committee, Margaret Hare and others requested relief or permission to "go to their husbands" and stated that they were, "reduced to the greatest distress imaginable and must inevitably suffer more and more without the Humane Interposition of this Honorable Board whose good Pleasure we find is to detain us here contrary to our Expectations."

In March 1780, Frederick Fisher and John Harper, Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in Tryon Country, provided New York Governor George Clinton with "a list of the families whose properties we have sold pursuant to a resolution of the Council of Safety, August 30th, 1777, and they have been detained ever since." Included on the list was the family of John Hare: Margaret and her children: William, Sarah, Catherine, Polly, and Elizabeth. Fisher and Harper asked that Clinton, "grant them liberty to go to Canada as we can assure Your Excellency they are in great distress." In his reply, Clinton expressed some surprise as he had been informed that the persons named had left Albany "some days past." Margaret and her daughters, however, were still at Johnstown in May 1780.

Soldier of the King's Royal Regiment
of New York by Don Troiani

Earlier in 1780, Sir John Johnson had proposed to Governor Frederick Haldimand^[2] a raid on Johnstown and Stone Arabia that would "relieve those who are suffering, to favour and encourage the Escape of all such men as may be desirous of coming off, and to secure the promoters of Rebellion in the County, and otherwise to distress them as Your Excellency may think fit to Order." Haldimand gave his full support. Johnson would lead four companies of the Kings Royal Regiment of New York, detachments from the 29th, 34th and 53rd Regiments, and about 200 Mohawk warriors.

The expedition departed from Fort Saint-Jean on the Richeleau River, crossed Lake Champlain to the vicinity of Crown Point, then marched overland to Johnstown. Near Johnstown, Johnson divided his forces. As the main body headed towards Caughnawaga, the Mohawk headed for the Mohawk River at Tribe's Hill then swept upriver, plundering and burning, before rendezvousing with Johnson.

From Caughnawaga, Johnson proceeded westwards several miles then turned back. After setting fire to every building in Caughnawaga except the church, Johnson headed for Johnson Hall.

Before he had fled to Canada in May 1776, Johnson had buried the family's silver service in the cellar of Johnson Hall. The barrels were exhumed and the silver distributed among 40 of the Royal Yorkers for safekeeping on the journey back to Fort Saint Jean.

Johnson's raid resulted in relatively few deaths among the inhabitants of the Mohawk Valley. The deaths that did occur appear to have been limited to adult males. 27 prisoners were taken, however, Johnson later released 14 of them.

The prisoners had their hands bound behind their backs and were tied together in pairs. Among them was eighteen-year-old Thomas Sammons whose father and two brothers were also prisoners. Sammons later wrote that he managed to free himself when a few of the Mohawk attempted to kill the prisoner he was tied to. In the confusion Thomas escaped into the crowd of Loyalists who had gathered at Johnson Hall. He was spotted by Margaret who presumably freed his hands and told him to "not stir much" while she went to speak to Johnson. While he waited he witnessed the distribution of the silver. When Margaret returned she led Thomas away from Johnson Hall. Thomas pretended to be lame so when they were challenged by a sentinel Thomas explained that Sir John had "sent him back."

Edward Lamson Henry, Johnson Hall, 1772

Over 140 Loyalists including some women and children returned with Johnson to Fort Saint-Jean. With them were "about 30 Blacks male and female," many of who had been formerly enslaved by Johnson. Johnson reported to Haldimand that 120 houses, barns, and mills had been burnt along with "vast quantities of flour, bread, Indian corn, and other provisions." A large number of cattle had been slaughtered and about 70 horses taken.

John Hare's son William, who had recently turned 16, may have accompanied Johnson back to Canada. Instead of joining the Royal Yorkers, however, he travelled to Niagara to join Butler's Rangers as a volunteer. William Hare's uncle, Peter Hare, was a Captain in Butler's Rangers, while his cousin John was a Lieutenant. Margaret Hare and her daughters remained in Johnstown.

A second raid on the Mohawk Valley region in October 1780 bypassed Johnstown. Houses, barns, mills, and stores of grain and hay were burned as Johnson's column of Royal Yorkers, Butler's Rangers, regulars, Brant's Volunteers, and Haudenosaunee marched down the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk, then headed west to destroy Stone Arabia. A force of Albany and Tryon County Militia under the command of General Robert Van Rensselaer engaged Johnson's men west of Stone Arabia at the inconclusive Battle of Klock's Field on October 19, 1780. Although 200 members of Butler's Rangers participated in the raid it seems unlikely that William Hare, 16 years old and newly recruited, was with them.

In a petition to Governor Haldimand dated August 29, 1782, Margaret wrote:

That your Petitioner endeavoured several time to extricate herself from their atrocious Cruelty by attempting to get to Canada, but was as often prevented by their unaccountable Procedure till at length, in last October, they made an act that the Loyalists should be sent off: accordingly your Petitioner came as far as Schenectady, where she was stopped, on account of Major Ross's being then in the Country, upon which she returned to Johnstown, in order to remain there till Spring, but would not be permitted to enter under a Roof there, as they knew that her Son, who is Volunteer in Col. Butler's Core, was with Major Ross, and as several of their People were killed in the Engagement which they had near Johnson Hall: There she was obliged to return to Schenectady where she remained till the latter end of Feby when she set off for Barmont [Vermont] State.

In October 1781, Major John Ross, commanding the 2nd Battalion of the King's Royal Regiment of New York, led a raid on the Mohawk Valley that destroyed Warrensborough to the east of Fort Hunter before heading to Johnstown. With Ross were two companies of Butler's Rangers commanded by Captain Walter Butler and Captain Gilbert Tice. On October 25, 1781, Ross engaged several hundred Patriot militia commanded by Colonel Marinus Willett near Johnstown. Five days later, as Ross withdrew towards Oswego, a rear-guard action at West Canada Creek resulted in the death of Captain Butler.

Gravestone of Sarah Willard née Hare (1766-1846)
Old Pawlet Cemetery, Pawlet, Rutland, Vermont

In March 1782, William Hare was one of fifteen men "employed in His Majesty's Service" who petitioned Governor Haldimand and asked that provisions and clothing be sent under a flag of truce to Skenesborough. They noted that, "the number of Woman and children who are there amounts to above one hundred." The "distressed families" had been at Skenesborough at the extreme south end of Lake Champlain for a month and had been "ordered off their places for their Loyalty" following the Battle of Johnstown.

Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth, and Catherine finally reached Montreal in June 1782 after receiving financial help from Colonel St. Leger at Fort Saint-Jean. Sarah, however, was not with them as she had been courted by and had married Joseph Willard of Pawlett, Vermont.

In Pawlet for One Hundred Years, Heil Hollister wrote that "the singularity of the marriage of Joseph [and Sarah] may be considered worthy of record." According to Hollister, Margaret and her children while fleeing to Canada were forced to stay at Joseph's father tavern in Pawlet due to a sudden thaw. An "attachment" developed between Joseph and Sarah and "her parent was induced to stay to see how it would end: which was by marriage in her 17th year."

Hollister then proceeds to give a fanciful account of the Siege of Fort Stanwix and John Hare's death:

A man named Davis who had married Capt. Hare's sister, was a captain in the American service. Accidentally they met upon this occasion. Each demanded of the other a surrender, which each denied. Each fired upon the other, when both fell at the same instant, mortally wounded at each other's feet.

Hollister's account is in stark contrast to other accounts of the death of Captain John Davis at the Battle of Oriskany, notably that provided by Jeptha Root Simms in the Frontiersmen of New York. John Davis was not the brother-in-law of John Hare, as Davis married Jannetje Veeder at Stone Arabia in 1763 and his youngest daughter was born posthumously.

Hollister also mistakenly claimed that Hare was a captain in Butler's Rangers and that John Butler was in command at the Siege of Fort Stanwix. But while Hollister got many of his facts wrong, Sarah Hare did marry Joseph Willard at Pawlett on April 3, 1782. She remained at Pawlett until her death in 1846 and was buried in the Old Pawlett Cemetery.

In her petition to Governor Haldimand, Margaret hoped "that her fatherless Children will not be without a paternal Patron." According to her daughter Elizabeth's 1795 Upper Canada Land Petition, Margaret was granted a pension of £40 per yer. In an April 1783 letter to Robert Matthews, Haldimand's military secretary, Abraham Cuyler wrote that the pension had not started as proposed "24 June last" and that Margaret "is really an object of pity." Margaret had petitioned Cuyler, a former mayor of Albany who had responsibility for "unincorporated Loyalists," the previous November.

Margaret and her three daughters appear on the various Lists of Refugees at Montreal in 1783 and 1784. They remained at Montreal until September 1784, and were then reunited with William at Niagara.

In the summer of 1781, William was recommended for a commission as a second lieutenant, however, his commission was deferred, because he had been "not behaving well on Capt Caldwell's expedition." The following June, William was once again recommended for promotion, but although "his behaviour since then has reinstated him," Haldimand felt that "it would be best for him to remain a Volunteer some time longer."

Caldwell's expedition refers to the August 12, 1781 raid on Wawarsing, led by Captain William Caldwell, a company commander in Butler's Rangers. A force of 250 Seneca and 87 Rangers burned mills, storehouses and barns at Warwarsing and Napanoch in Ulster County, New York. In his report to Brigadier General Powell, commanding officer at Niagara, Caldwell wrote," I had the good fortune not to have a Ranger killed or wounded during our operations in those settlements" but added, "It is almost impossible to describe the situation of the party at present, worn out with hunger and fatigue."

William appears on the Niagara Returns for 1783 and 1784. The 1785 Niagara Provisioning List shows that William's mother and three sisters had joined him at Niagara, however, the 1786 Niagara Provisioning List shows one fewer girl as Catherine had died sometime in the previous 12 months.

Detail from the 1862 Tremaine's Map of Lincoln &
Welland Counties. The village of Bridgeport (Jordan
Station) occupies land assigned to Margaret Hare.

Margaret was assigned two lots in Louth Township on the east side of 20 Mile Creek where it flows into Lake Ontario.^[3] When Margaret died, one lot went to Elizabeth while the other went to Mary. Elizabeth's lot would eventually became the property of her son, James William Osgood Clark.

Margaret's claim for Revolutionary War losses was heard by the Commissioners of Claims at Niagara on August 25, 1787. Although Margaret asked for £234, the commissioners only awarded her £50 as they felt the amounts given for some of the losses were "greatly over-valued."

Margaret died sometime after 10 Aug 1790 when she made oath that she had been legally married to John Hare. Elizabeth's 1795 Upper Canada Land Petition refers to the death of Margaret "a few years ago." William's petition the same year refers to his "late mother."

In April 1793, William, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth successfully petitioned for the 3000 acres that their father, had he lived, would have been entitled to as a Captain in the Indian Department.

William married Margaret Howe about 1794 and their first child, John, was born about 1796. They had at least seven more children, as eight children were later granted land as the son or daughter of a United Empire Loyalist. In 1808 William moved west to the Dundas Valley after purchasing land in the 1st Concession of West Flamborough from the original patentee Anne Morden.

When William and Margaret died from cholera in 1832 they were buried somewhere on their property, but were reinterred at Grove Cemetery in 1852. Their property, known as the Morden-Hare site, was the subject of archaeological excavations in 2018 and 2109 that uncovered thousands of 18th and 19th century artifacts.

Mary married Benjamin Fairchild (1765-1838) about 1791. Their first child, Margaret, was baptised on March 6, 1794. Family tradition holds that Benjamin was the son of Benjamin Fairchild and Millicent Hall, and had been taken captive by the Mohawk during the Revolutionary War. With his brother Isaac, he afterwards established a trading post first at the mouth of the Credit River and later on Fairchild Creek, a tributary of the Grand River. Benjamin was appointed a Lieutenant and Interpreter in the Indian Department of Upper Canada on November 13, 1812.

Elizabeth married James Clark on August 29, 1795 in Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake). James, the son of James Clark and Jemima Mason, was a merchant, lawyer, and office holder. His father had been born in Somerset, England and had come to Quebec in May 1768 with the 8th Regiment of Foot. In 1793, James was appointed Clerk of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. When the government of Upper Canada moved from Newark to York (Toronto) in 1797, Elizabeth and James moved as well. Elizabeth died in October 1806, seven months after the death of her seven-year-old daughter Elizabeth.

With Margaret's petition to Abraham Cuyler was a certificate signed by Barry St. Leger, John Johnson, Guy Johnson,^[4] and Daniel Claus. Their words make a fitting epitaph: "We knew the late Captain John Hare to be a zealous and loyal subject, and a brave and useful officer."

Notes:

1. John Hare is referred to as "Captain Hare" in some primary sources and "Lieutenant Hare" in others. Pay lists for the Indian Department show that John was paid as a Lieutenant from May 19, 1776 until his death. In her petition to Governor Haldimand dated August 29, 1782, Margaret Hare states that Col. St. Leger had appointed John "a Capt. in the Indian Department at Carleton Island, on his way to Fort Stanwix, but understands he was returned by Col. Butler only as Lieut till his Death."

2. Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Haldimand (1718-1791) replaced Sir Guy Carleton as Governor of the Province of Quebec in 1778.

3. Lot 17 Concession 1 and Lot 17 Concession 2 with their broken fronts.

4. Guy Johnson, a cousin of Sir John Johnson, was Superintendent of the Indian Department from 1774 until 1782.

Sources:

Bilharz, Joy. Oriskany: A Place of Great Sadness. National Park Service, 2009. npshistory.com/publications/fost/ser.pdf

Crowder, Norman. Early Ontario Settlers: A Source Book. Genealogical Publishing, 1993. ancestry.ca/search/collections/48451/

Cruickshank, Ernest A. and Gavin K. Watt. The History and Master Roll of The King's Royal Regiment of New York, Revised edition. Global Heritage Press, 2006.
archive.org/details/historymasterrol0000crui

Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York, vol 8, edited by E. B. O'Callaghan. Albany, 1857. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006784538

Fairchild, Timothy Marsh & Filter, Sarah Ellen. The Name and Family of Fairchild. Mercer Printing Company, 1944. archive.org/details/TheNameAndFamilyOfFairchildCompiledByTimothyMarshFairchildAndSarahEllenFairchildPub.1944

Green, Nelson, ed. History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925, vol. 1. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1925. familysearch.org/search/catalog/195477

Hollister, Heil. Pawlet for One Hundred Years. Albany, 1867. archive.org/details/pawletforonehun00hollgoog

Holmes, Vicki. King's Royal Regiment of New York: Soldier and Family Migration Routes to Canada. United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada (St. Lawrence Branch), 2020. uelac.org/st-lawrence/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Holmes-2020.pdf

Library and Archives Canada. Daniel Claus and Family Fonds. MG19-F1. heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_103767

Library and Archives Canada. Haldimand Papers, MG21. heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_105513

Library and Archives Canada. Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865. RG 1 L3. bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/land-petitions-upper-canada.aspx

Loescher, Burt Garfield. The History of Roger's Rangers, 4 vols. San Francisco, 1946.
archive.org/details/historyofrogersr03loes

National Archives of the United Kingdom. American Loyalist Claims, 1776–1835. AO 12–13. ancestry.com/search/collections/3712/

New York Colonial Muster Rolls, 1664-1755, vol. 1. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1999. ancestry.ca/search/collections/48344/

Penrose, Maryly. Mohawk Valley in the Revolution: Committee of Safety Papers & Genealogical Compendium. Liberty Bell, 1978. archive.org/details/mohawkvalleyinre0000unse

Preston, Richard A. “Clark, James.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5. University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. biographi.ca/en/bio/clark_james_5E.html

Sammons, Thomas. Account of the 1780 Raid on Mohawk Valley. Undated manuscript. Archives Collection. Montgomery County Department of History & Archives.

Schenawolf, Harry. "Battle of Oriskany and Siege of Fort Stanwix—Brutal Civil War that Helped Save a Nation." Revolutionary War Journal, January 10, 2021. revolutionarywarjournal.com/battle-of-oriskany-and-siege-of-fort-stanwix-brutal-civil-war-that-helped-save-a-nation/

Simms, Jeptha Root. Frontiersmen of New York, 2 vols.. Albany, 1883. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000365198

Stone, William L. Life of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea: Including the Indian Wars of the American Revolution. Albany, 1838.
catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100684159

The Butler Papers: Documents and Papers Relating to Colonel John Butler and His Corps of Rangers, edited by William A. Smy. Library Archives & Special Collections, Brock University, 1994. dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/9242

Watt, Gavin K. Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley: The St Leger Expedition of 1777. Dundurn Press, 2002.

Watt, Gavin K. A Dirty Trifling, Piece of Business: The Revolutionary War as Waged from Canada in 1781. Dundurn Press, 2009.

Watt, Gavin K. Loyalist Refugees: Non-Military Refugees in Quebec 1776-1784. Global Heritage Press, 2014.

Watt, Gavin K. "Sir John Johnson, The Hard Luck Baronet." Journal of the American Revolution, August 29, 2016. allthingsliberty.com/2016/08/sir-john-johnson-hard-luck-baronet/

Watt, Gavin K. For Want of His Silver Plate: Sir John Johnson's Raid of May 1780. Global Heritage Press, 2018.

Watt, Gavin K. and James F. Morrison. The British Campaign of 1777, Volume One, The St. Leger Expedition, The Forces of the Crown and Congress. Second Edition. Global Heritage Press, 2010.

The Impossible and the Improbable: Rachel Quackenbush

Baptism of Rachel Quackenbus, June 4, 1738 from the Register of Baptisms, Marriages,
Communicants & Funerals begun by Henry Barclay at Fort Hunter, January 26th 1734/5.
Source: New York Historical Society

One of Sherlock Holmes most memorable lines is: “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” When researching family history in Colonial New York, eliminating the impossible is a reasonable strategy to follow.

On June 21, 1765, Rachel Quackenbush, a widow, married William Heer, a widower, at the Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia in the Mohawk Valley region of New York. William Hare (c. 1731–1773), the son of John Hare of Fort Hunter, was a Captain in the British Indian Department under Sir William Johnson. He married Elizabeth Clement in 1759 and had two children: John, born in 1760, and Peter born in 1762. Elizabeth is believed to have died in childbirth in 1764.

Rachel is something of a mystery. It is uncertain if Quackenbush was her maiden name or the surname of her first husband, although it seems that in the marriage records of the Reformed Dutch Church the maiden name was consistently used.

Detail from Map of the N.W. Parts of New York, 1750
Source: Library of Congress

By 1765 there were numerous Quackenbush families living in the Mohawk Valley region—descendants of Pieter and Maritje Quackenbosch who emigrated from Holland in 1653 and settled in Beverwyck (Albany). Rachel, however, was not a common family name. In her exhaustive The Quackenbush Family in America, Gail Richard Quackenbush listed only three Rachels born around the time of William Hare's birth.

The first is the Rachel Quackenbush who married Isaac Gallier at Stone Arabia on February 16, 1765. She is emphatically not the Rachel who married William Hare at Stone Arabia four months later. Isaac Collier (1742-1818) and Rachel had four children baptised at Stone Arabia in the years following their marriage. This Rachel was likely the daughter of Jeremias and Susanna Quackenbush who was baptised at Fort Hunter on February 24, 1745.

The second is Rachel, daughter of Abraham Quackenbush and Maria Bowen, who was baptised at Fort Hunter on June 5, 1738. If this is the Rachel Quackenbusch who married Wiljam Nukerk at Schoharie on July 12, 1762 then it is possible that three years later she married William Hare. The evidence for this is circumstantial. William's sister Catharine was baptised at Fort Hunter in 1739, which suggests that the two families were at least acquainted, and both William Newkirk and William Hare were fur traders at Fort Niagara.

Mark Peckham, Fort Hunter
Source: Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site

William Newkirk, the son of Gerret Newkirk and Anna Vischer, was baptised at Kingston, Ulster, New York on October 12, 1735. His brother, Gerret Cornelius Newkirk (1729–1821) is thought to have married Neeltje Quackenbush (1732-1808), the sister of Rachel.

William was at Fort Niagara in April 1762 when the the rum that he and others had in good faith purchased to trade with the indigenous population was confiscated on orders of Major General Sir Jeffery Amherst, Governor of the Province of Quebec. A letter to Sir William Johnson protesting the confiscation was signed by Collin Andrews, William Newkarke and ten others: "... this Rum is taken from us without a Receipt and put in the Kings Store, with strict orders not to let an Indian have a Drop." The traders were concerned that without rum there would be no trade.

A letter from Major William Walters at Fort Niagara to Johnson explained why the rum had been confiscated: "I am to acquaint you that I Received an order from General Amherst not to suffer the Traders to sell any Rum or spirituous Liquor to the Indians on any pretense."

Three months after his marriage, William Newkirk was murdered by two Delaware warriors. The circumstances were described in a letter from Johnson to Amherst dated November 12, 1762:

Just now One Allen from Niagra Arrived here in Company with two Seneca Indians; he Informs me, that about a Fortnight ago, he being in Company with One William Newkirk of the Mohawk Country, & his own Servant, were met on the Banks of the Seneca Lake, near to Castle of that Nation, called Canussadagey¹ by Two Indians of Kanestio, a Village towards the Ohio, who Shook hands with Newkirk, and after passing them by, Immediately Faced about, and Fired upon them, by which Newkirk & the Servant were Killed, and Allen's Horse Shot under him, & Himself made Prisoner; That the Indians of the Seneca Castle freed him, and after Expressing great Concern for what had happened, they sent two Indians with him hither, one of them Charged with Several Belts of Wampum, Excusing themselves from having any part therin, or being Privy thereto.

Efforts to bring the perpetrators to British justice were unsuccessful. The murders may have been a factor when early in 1764, during Pontiac's War, Sir William Johnson ordered an attack made against the Delaware. A force led by Andrew Montour, William Hare, and John Johnston burned Kanestio and several other Delaware villages on the Susquehanna, Chemung and Tioga Rivers.

Finally, there is the possibility that William married the Rachel Quackenbush who had been a child captive during King George's War (1744–1748).

Len Tantillo, Saratoga 1745
Source: L. F. Tantillo Fine Art

Rachel, the daughter of Jacob Quackenbush and Geertruy Van der Werken, was baptised at Schnectady on April 13, 1740. When Rachel was five years old, she and her family were taken captive by the French and their indigenous allies during an attack on Saratoga in November 1745. The attack was led by Lieutenant Paul Marin de La Malgue who commanded a force of 280 French and 229 Abenaki, Kahnawake Mohawk, and Kanesatake Mohawk against the undefended settlement. Marin's expedition destroyed Saratoga, killing some of the inhabitants, and taking 50 Anglo-Dutch and 60 African slaves as captives to Canada.

Accounts of the attack on Saratoga appear in David Preston's Colonial Saratoga: War and Peace on the Borderlands of Early America, Samuel Drake's A Particular History of the Five Years French and Indian War, and in John Henry Brandow's The Story of Old Saratoga And History of Schuylerville. Brandow describes the aftermath of the attack:

Thus what we saw to be a busy, thriving hamlet on the 27th of November was a scene of blackened ruins and utter soliture on the 28th. The prisoners, men, women, and children, many of them half clothed and barefooted, were collected, bound together and head toward the frowning north, doomed to a fate which, to many of them, was worse by far than death. Some died in prisons. A few were ransomed from the Indians and returned, but most of them never saw the old home-land again.

The captivity of Rachel's family is well documented due the journals kept by a few of the prisoners of war at Quebec's Casernes prison. The most relevant of these are those written by Captain William Pote Jr. and the Reverend John Norton. Norton was captured when Fort Massachusetts surrendered to the French in August 1746, and was held at the Casernes from September 1746 until July 1747. In 1748, he published his journal as The Redeemed Captive. Captain Pote was master of the merchant vessel Montague when it was boarded in the Annapolis Basin on May 15, 1745. He was imprisoned at the Casernes from July 1745 until July 1747, having been brought there by his Maliseet captors by canoe. His journal was discovered in Geneva, Switzerland in 1890 and published in 1896.

Len Tantillio, Quebec, New France c. 1745
Source: Minnesota Marine Art Museum

Rachel's parents, her eight-year-old sister Machtel, her 18-year-old brother Isaac, her uncle Gerardus Van de Werken, and her grandparents, Gerrit Van de Werken and Maritie DeVoe, were brought to the Casernes in January 1746. Rachel and her 14-year-old sister Maria, however, were held captive at the Abenaki settlement of Wobinak on the banks of the Becancour River, about 20 kilometers southeast of Trois-Rivières.

Conditions in the Casernes, a former military barracks, were stark but tolerable. Prisoners were provided bedding and clothing, and the food (mainly bread, salt beef, salt pork, dried cod, and dried peas) was adequate, but many prisoners still succumbed to disease. Pote recorded over 75 deaths in the two years he was a captive, including the death of Rachel's uncle on December 2, 1746. In the entry for December 7, Norton recorded that Rachel's sister Martha [Machtel] Quaquinbush "a girl taken at Sarratago" died "of a long and tedious sickness."

After an accidental fire severely damaged the Casernes in April 1747, the captives were moved to a hastedly constructed camp outside the walls of Quebec where they were housed in tents.

Jacob and Isaac Quackenbush, father and son, died on the same day in May 1747. Pote provides additional details:

May ye 26 Died Jacob Quacinbush and his Son Isaac, aged about 20 Year of age a Likely Young man who has been Sick But a few Days, ye wife Said Jacob Quacinbush is Now Sick at ye hospital and has Lost Since In this place, her husband and Son aforsd and a Dughter aged about 12 Years and her Brother aged about 30, and has now a Daughter of about 18 years of age with ye Indians, and her father and mother with us at this time In Prison aged about 75 Years Each

Geertruy recovered from her illness and in July received an unexpected visitor. Her daughter Maria had escaped from her Abenaki captors and had made her way to Quebec. Pote writes:

7th Fair this Day Came Into our Camps a Girl about 16 Years of age ye Daughter of widow Quacinbush She made her Escape from ye Indians in whos hands She have been these 20 months by Getting a Connew and Crossing ye River at a place Called ye 3 Rivers about midway Betwen this and montrial from whence She have Travelling this 4 or 5 Days and ye french assisted her till She arrived to this place where she was Conducted to a Gentlemans who Clothed her and brought here here to See her mother but She is to Remain in ye Town.

The Intendant of New France, Gilles Hocquart, intervened and Maria was able to accompany her mother and grandparents when the French repatriated prisoners-of-war that summer. On July 25, 1747, 172 men, women, and children embarked aboard the La Vierge-de-Grace, a French vessel bound for Boston under a flag of truce. The arrival of the La Vierge-de-Grace on August 16, 1747 was reported in the Boston Gazette, accompanied by a list of names of the freed captives.

Francois-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil
(1703-1779) Source: Musée National
des Beaux-arts du Québec

Geertruy, her parents, and Maria likely returned to Albany where, four years later, Maria married Albert Van der Werken (1727-1796).

Rachel, however, remained behind in New France. Within a few months of her capture, Rachel had been ransomed from the Abenaki by Francois-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil, the future Governor of Trois Rivieres, and likely placed in the care of Charlotte Taschereau.

Rachel was baptised into the Catholic Church at Trois Rivieres on April 9, 1746 as Marie Charlotte Archamboe (Archambault). The baptismal record notes that she was English by nationality, taken at Saratoga in November, and about 5 years old. Rigaud and Taschereau were named as her godparents.

In March 1747, Rachel was brought to the Casernes to see her parents. Pote recorded the visit in his journal:

March ye 16th Came to Prison two Gentlemen and two Ladys, and Brought with ym ye Daughter of one Quacinbush, yt was Taken Near albeney, this Child had been with ye French, Ever Since She was Taken with her Parents, which is about 18 months, there was her Father & mother Granfather and Grandmother In this prison, they Endeavourd to make her Speak with ym. But She would not Speak a word Neither In Dutch nor English.

A second visit occurred in July 1747, as preparations were being made to release the Casernes prisoners:

July ye 18th ... Quacinbushs Child who has Lived with a Gentlewoman In this town about 18 months was this Day brought to our Camps her mother Endeavoured by all possible means to have her Delivered up but ye Gentleman that Came with her would not Consent and Demanded a Sum of money for her Redemption that they had paid the Endians Capt Doane offered to Be the womans Security and that the money Should be paid at our arrivel at Boston but Could not prevail by any means I observed the Child was So taken up with the French that She would not Come nigh her mother but Seemed as much afraid of her as though She had been an Indian. So that I Believe She will Stay hear behind if we go.

In 1750, Lieutenant Benjamin Stoddard was sent by Governor George Clinton of New York to Canada to repatriate any remaining British prisoners of war. Rachel Quackenbus appears on the return of prisoners dated June 26, 1750 with the comment: "Has abjured² and desires to remain in the Colony; Mr Stoddert has spoken to her repeatedly, without being able to persuade her to accompany him."

Two years later, Nathaniel Wheelwright and Phineas Stevens were sent to Canada by Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Spencer Phips on a similar mission. Once again Rachel refused to leave. In their report, Stevens and Wheelwright state that Rachel had been: "Ransomed from the Indians by Monsieur Rigaud with whom she is absolutely resolved to stay it being quite to her mind."

Although a marriage or burial record for Rachel has not been found, it is highly unlikely that she returned to the Mohawk Valley and married not once but twice.

Of the three Rachels born in the Mohawk Valley region around the time of William Hare's birth, the most plausible candidate for his second wife is the Rachel who was born in 1738 and married William Newkirk in 1762. While it cannot be proven, the evidence suggests that was the case, as it is neither impossible nor improbable.

Notes:

¹Kanadaseaga
²To abjure is to renounce Protestantism and become Catholic. 

Sources:

A Documentary History of the State of Maine, vol. 23. Portland, 1916.  catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007474281

Brandow, John Henry. The Story of Old Saratoga And History of Schuylerville. Albany, 1900. archive.org/details/storyofoldsarato06bran

Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. 10. Albany, 1858. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006784538

Dobbelaer, Avril. Indian Captivity: A Tool in the Battle for Souls and Power. Senior thesis. University of North Carolina at Asheville, 2008 toto.lib.unca.edu/sr_papers/history_sr/srhistory_2008/dobbelaer_avril.pdf

Drake, Samuel G. A Particular History of the Five Years French and Indian War in New England and Parts Adjacent. Boston, 1870. archive.org/details/particularhistor00drak

Gray, Colleen. Captives in Canada, 1744-1763. 1993. Master's theses, McGill University. escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/cn69m4994

Norton, John. The Redeemed Captive, being a narrative of the taking and carrying into captivity the Reverend Mr. John Norton, when Fort Massachusetts surrendered to a large body of French and Indians, August 20th, 1746. Boston, 1748. archive.org/details/cihm_11372/

Pote, William. The Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr. During His Captivity in the French and Indian War from May, 1745 to August, 1747. New York, 1896. archive.org/details/journalofcaptain00pote

Preston, David L. Colonial Saratoga: War and Peace on the Borderlands of Early America. National Park Service, 2018. oah.org/site/assets/files/10292/sara_nhp_-_colonial_saratoga_war_and_peace_on_the_borderlands.pdf

Quackenbush, Gail Richard. The Quackenbush Family in America. Wolfe City, Texas: Henington Publishing, 1987.

Skilton, Susan Kay. "Correcting the Identification of Rachel Quackenbush, Child Captive in the French and Indian War." The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 148, no. 3, July 2017, pp. 165-172.

Sullivan, James, ed. The Papers of Sir William Johnson, 14 vols. Albany: The University of the State New York, 1921-1965. ancestry.ca/search/collections/20216/

A Name of Respectability: William Hare (1731-1773)

Map of the Country of the Six Nations, 1771
Source: New York Public Library

The frontier settlements of the Mohawk Valley region of New York were home to a significant number of families that remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution. The Hare family, for example, had eight members who "joined the British Standard" and served in either Butler's Rangers or in the Indian Department.

Warrensburg Patent, 1738. Source:
Montgomery County Clerk's Office

The patriarch, John Hare settled in the vicinity of Fort Hunter in what is now Montgomery County sometime before his daughter Catharine was baptised at Fort Hunter on 15 Jul 1739. It is possible that the family was one of the twelve Irish Protestant families that William Johnson (1715–1774) had recruited and brought to America in 1738 to settle on land owned by his uncle, Captain Peter Warren of the Royal Navy.

Hare researchers have tended to focus on three of John's sons: Captain Peter Hare (1748–1834), who served as a company commander in Butler's Rangers during the Revolutionary War, Captain John Hare (c. 1734–1777) of the Indian Department who was killed at the Battle of Oriskany, and Lieutenant Henry Hare (c. 1740–1779) of the Indian Department who was hanged as a spy at Canojaharie. However, a fourth brother, James Hare, also served with the Indian Department for seven years as a Volunteer. In addition, John Hare's son William (1764–1832) enlisted as a Volunteer in Butler's Rangers as did Henry's son John (1766– ?).

Also with the Rangers were Lieutenant John Hare (1760– ?) and Peter Hare (1762–1797), sons of William Hare and Elizabeth Clement.

William Hare (c.1731–1773), the eldest child of John Hare, saw action several times during the Seven Years War, first as a Corporal in the New York Provincial Regiment, then as a Lieutenant in Roger's Rangers, and finally as a Lieutenant in the British Indian Department.

In 1755, William appears on the muster rolls of Captain William McGinnis's company of the New York Provincials, along with his father and two brothers. At the Battle of Lake George on September 8, 1755, McGinnis's company and Nathaniel Folson's company of New Hampshire Provincials were dispatched from Fort Edward to reinforce William Johnson's forces to the north. McGinnis and Folson encountered and captured the French baggage train, then ambushed a body of withdrawing French militia accompanied by Abenaki, Kahnawake Mohawk, and Kanesatake Mohawk warriors.

Illustration from Tuttle's Popular
History of the Dominion of Canada

William McGinnis was mortally wounded during this engagement and the company was taken over by his brother Robert McGinnis. William Hare was promoted to Corporal in September 1755 but does not appear on the muster rolls in 1756.

William was appointed a Lieutenant in Captain Harry Isaac Wendell's company of Roger's Rangers upon its formation on 25 Mar 1758. In April 1758, William was slightly wounded during a raid on German Flatts by Indigenous warriors allied with the French. In August 1758, he led a detachment of the Rangers at the Battle of Fort Frontenac.

On 9 Oct 1758, William married Elizabeth Clement at Schenectady. Elizabeth is believed to be the daughter of Peter Clement (b. 1681) and his second wife, Anne Vedder. According to their marriage record both William and Elizabeth were de woostyn (of the wilderness).

Upon Captain Wendell's resignation in May 1759, William left Rogers' Rangers and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Indian Department on the recommendation of Sir William Johnson on 31 May 1759. William was with Johnson at the Battle of Fort Niagara in July 1759 and during the Montreal Campaign the following summer.

Plan of the Fort and Attack on Niagara, 1759
Map reproduction courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal
Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library

William is named a number of times in the journal¹ kept by Johnson in 1759. On 11 Aug 1759, soon after arriving at Oswego, Johnson wrote that he had sent "Captain Fonda, Lieutenant Hare, an interpreter, and others to Onondaga, to call the young men of that nation here, to go upon service." At the end of the month, William was present at Johnson's meeting with the Seneca and Onondaga at Oswego. In early September he was sent to the Cayuga to attend the Ceremony of Consolation for the sachem Ottrawana's daughter, and to return with their warriors. Later that month, William was placed in command of one of two scouting parties sent to Fort La Galette (Oswegatchie) on the St Lawrence River.

William was discharged on 8 Nov 1760, the same day as John Butler who seventeen years later was given permission to raise a regiment of rangers based at Fort Niagara.

William and Elizabeth's first child, John, was baptised at Schenectady on 27 Feb 1760. Their second child, Peter, was baptised there on 1 Jan 1762.

Sir William Johnson in 1763, based
on a lost portrait by Thomas McIlworth

William again served with the Indian Department during Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1766) and held the rank of Captain. Letters in The Papers of Sir William Johnson show that William was one of the leaders of the 1764 expedition against the Delaware at Kanestio and along the Susquehanna, Chemung and Tioga Rivers commanded by Captain Andrew Montour. In a letter dated Diogoa [Tioga] April 7th 1764, Monture, Hare, and John Johnston reported to Sir William Johnson that they had moved "against our Enemy at Kanisteo and Along the Susquehanna Destroying & Burning All their Towns Villages and Settlements With there Creatures Such as Horses, Cattle..."

Elizabeth Clement is believed to have died in 1764. On 13 Jun 1765, William married Rachel Quackenbush at Stone Arabia. The marriage record notes that both William and Rachel were widowed.

In his 1845 History of Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York, American historian Jeptha Root Simms wrote:

The name of Hare was one of respectability in the Mohawk valley, before the revolution. Members of the Hare family were engaged for years in sundry speculations with Maj. Jelles Fonda, who, as already observed, carried on an extensive trade with the Indians and fur traders at the western military posts; his own residence being at Caughnawaga.

Petitions signed by William and other traders show that he was licensed to trade at Niagara in 1766 and in 1767. Frontier traders such as William were mainly interested in furs, but would also trade for ginseng. In 1769, William wrote to Jelles Fonda, a merchant at Caughnawaga: "I have given a Notice to all the sinecas Nation to Bring on all the Roots they Can possibly get which they have promised to Do." In the same letter William requested blankets, beads, rum and muskets, as well as foodstuffs and "2 pair Womens Cloath shoes."

William is also named in several letters written by British trader Ferrell Wade to Sir William Johnson in the summer of 1771. Wade and his partner, Peter Keiuser, traded rum, blankets, knives, kettles, and other goods for furs with the Mississauga at Toronto. Billy Hare, as Wade called him, may have been similarly engaged.

George Catlin, "Portage around the Falls of Niagara at Table Rock,"
c. 1847. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington. As a trader at
Niagara, William Hare would be familiar with scenes such as this.

William Hare died of an illness in 1773. A letter dated 3 Jul 1773 to William Johnson from his son-in-law Daniel Claus refers to William's death.

William's sons would later join Butler's Rangers. John was commissioned a Lieutenant on 25 Dec 1779. He was with Captain William Caldwell at the raid on Wawarsing on 12 Aug 1781. Lieutenant John Hare, aged 28, appears on the 30 Nov 1783 "Return of Loyalists" at Niagara, the 20 Jul 1784 "List of Persons Who Have Subscribed Their Names in Order to Settle and Cultivate the Lands Opposite to Niagara, the 1785 "Return of the Loyalist Settlers at Niagara," and the 1786 Niagara Provisioning List. His date of death is not known.

Peter Hare attempted to join his brother at Niagara in 1780, but was "forced" instead to enlist in the King's Rangers commanded by Major James Rogers. A year later Governor Frederick Haldimand ordered that Peter be transferred to Butler's Rangers. He appears on the 1783 Niagara Return and is recorded as having been a Volunteer on the 1784 List. Peter appears on the 1785 Return, the 1786 Provisioning List, and the 1787 "List of Disbanded Troops at Niagara." Peter was granted 200 acres in Saltfleet Township in 1792 but the land reverted to the Crown in 1797 following his death.

It is not known when Rachel Quackenbush died or if she remarried after the death of William. It is also not known if she came to Canada like her stepsons, or remained in New York.

¹ The journal covers the period from the surrender of Fort Niagara on 25 Jul 1759 to 14 Oct 1759. Although none of Johnson's journals have survived, excerpts from two of them were printed in William Stone's 1845 The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson and reprinted in Volume 13 of The Papers of William Johnson, published in 1962.

Sources:

Cash, Sherri Goldstein. “Roots in the Valley: Ginseng and the New York-Iroquois Borderlands, 1752–1785.” New York History, vol. 99, no. 1, Fenimore Art Museum, 2018, pp. 7–37. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26905088

Crowder, Norman. Early Ontario Settlers: A Source Book. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1993. ancestry.ca/search/collections/48451/

Hamilton, Milton W. Sir William Johnson, Colonial American, 1715-1763. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1976. archive.org/details/sirwilliamjohnso00hami_0/

Library and Archives Canada. Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865. RG 1 L3

Loescher, Burt Garfield. The History of Roger's Rangers, 4 vols. San Francisco, 1946. archive.org/details/historyofrogersr01loes

New York Colonial Muster Rolls, 1664-1755, vol. 1. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1999. ancestry.ca/search/collections/48344/

Simms, Jeptha Root. History of Schoharie County And Border Wars of New York. Albany: Munsell & Tanne, 1845. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008731951

Smy, William. An Annotated Nominal Roll of Butler's Rangers 1777-1784. Welland, Ontario: Friends of the Loyalist Collection at Brock University, 2004.

Smy, William A., editor. The Butler Papers: Documents and Papers Relating to Colonel John Butler and His Corps of Rangers. Brock University Library Archives & Special Collections, 1994. dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/9242

Stone, William L. The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, 2 vols. Albany: J. Munsell, 1865. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000361699

Sullivan, James, ed. The Papers of Sir William Johnson, 14 vols. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1921. ancestry.ca/search/collections/20216/

The Documentary History of the State of New-York, vol. 1. Albany, 1849. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009115618