The New York Volunteer: John Secord (1762 - ?)

Detail from the 1859 Tremaine Map of Brant County

In her acclaimed book Liberty's Exiles, American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World, Maya Jasanoff describes the Loyalists as "ordinary people whose lives were overturned by extraordinary events." During the American Revolution, sixty thousand "ordinary people," sided with Britain and as a result abandoned their homes and sought refuge in other parts of the British Empire. Among them were ten members of the family of Daniel Secord (1698- ?) and Catherine Mabie (1703- ?) of Westchester, New York—three of their sons and seven of their grandchildren.

Two sons and five grandchildren joined Butler's Rangers based at Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario: Peter Secord (1726-1818), John Secord (1725-1804), their sons Silas (1755- ?) and John (1757-1830)  and their nephews Solomon (1755-1799), Stephen (1757-1808), and David (1759-1844). John and Peter's brother James Secord (1732-1784) served in the Indian Department at Fort Niagara, while their nephew, Daniel Secord (1756- ?), son of their brother Daniel (1723-1818), joined Brant's Volunteers, also based at Fort Niagara.

The final member of this family to remain loyal was John Secord, another child of Daniel Secord and his wife Elinor. John was born in Dutchess County, New York in 1762, and at the age of 15 joined the New York Volunteers, a loyalist provincial regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull (1728-1810). The New York Volunteers were sent to East Florida in October 1778. They saw action at the Capture of Savannah in December 1778, and at the Siege of Savannah in October 1779. John appears as a private on the muster roll of Captain John Coffin's Company dated at Savannah, Georgia on 29 Nov 1779.

The Stand of the Continentals
at Camden by Graham Turner

The Volunteers were at the Siege of Charleston in the spring of 1780 and at the Battle of Camden in August 1780. In April 1781, the Volunteers fought at the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill. John appears as a corporal on both 1781 muster rolls for Captain Coffin's Company. In August 1782, the New York Volunteers returned to New York several months before the British evacuation of Charleston. When the Revolutionary War ended, the New York Volunteers and other Loyalist units were evacuated from New York. The Volunteers were transported aboard the Ranger and arrived at the mouth of the Saint John River (New Brunswick) in late September 1783. They were disbanded on 10 Oct 1783. John was a sergeant at the time of his discharge.

John married in New Brunswick and had at least five children. His wife's name is not known. In 1793, he moved west to Upper Canada (Ontario) and settled in Gainsborough Township in the Niagara Peninsula. Unfortunately, the lot alloted to him (Lot 9 Concession 1 on the north bank of the Welland River) had been alloted to Isaac Vrooman several years earlier. In his 1794 Upper Canada Land Petition, John claims he, "erected thereon a Small house (there being no improvement on the Lot when he took possession)" and further claimed that Vrooman only began to clear land after Secord had settled. Vrooman disputed this, stating that Secord arrived a year after Vrooman had begun "improving" the property. The Executive Council apparently decided in favour of Vrooman, and John moved west to Burford Gore (Oakland Township). On 17 May 1802, he was granted title to Lot 9 Concession 2 in Burford Gore (Oakland Township), as well as 200 acres in Townsend Township, Norfolk County.

In 1809, John petitioned for his name to be added to the list of Loyalists "in order than his children may be entitled to partake of His Majesty's bounty in land."

John served in the 1st Regiment of Oxford Militia before the War of 1812. He appears as a private on the 1803 muster roll of the Burford Company, and as a Lieutenant on the 1807 muster roll. On 11 Jul 1812 he was commissioned a Captain, however, does not appear on any of the surviving muster rolls from the war.

John Secord's will is dated 6 Feb 1813. In his will he names his sons: James, John and Asa, and his grandchilden: Amy and Mariah Doyle, and William and Joseph Ellis.

1812 Return of Bingham's
Rifle Company

James saw active service during the War of 1812 with the 1st Regiment of Oxford Militia. He appears on the muster rolls for Lieutenant B. Brewster Bingham's Rifle Company during the fall of 1812, and again on the muster rolls for Bingham's company in 1814. James was undoubtedly present at the Battle of Malcolm's Mills on 6 Nov 1814 when the Oxford, Middlesex, and Norfolk militias unsuccessfully tried to block an American force of 700 mounted riflemen under the command of Brigadier General Duncan McArthur. The battle took place less than 1.5 kilometres from James's home.

James Secord's Upper Canada Land Petition is dated 13 Apr 1819. He was awarded 200 acres as the "Son of John Seacord Serjeant of the New York Volunteers Loyalist."

In 1823, James sold the east half of Lot 9 Concession 1 Oakland to his brother Asa, and the west half to Asa in 1828. Between 1830 and 1832 James sold off Lot 24 Concession 12 in Townsend. James never married.

Apart from being named in his father's will, nothing else is known about John Secord. He is sometimes confused with his cousin John Secord, the son of Daniel Secord.

Deborah Ellis née Secord's gravestone
at Mount Pleasant Pioneer Cemetery,
Brantford, Brant, Ontario

John’s daughter Deborah Secord (1790-1866) married John Ellis (1780-1864). John Ellis was the son of Henry Ellis and had emigrated with his family to Upper Canada from Pennsylvania in 1798. Henry leased 200 acres from the Haudenosaunee in 1801. Deborah and John had at least nine children. Their son, David Duncomb Ellis (1833-1909) married Bessie Whale, daughter of the portrait and landscape painter Robert Reginald Whale (1805-1887). Deborah was granted land as the daughter of a Loyalist in 1822.

Mary Secord married John Doyle, son of Benjamin Doyle and Catherine Summers, and was granted land as the daughter of a Loyalist in 1816. Their two children, Amy and Mariah (1809-1879), were named in the will of their grandfather. Mariah married Roswell Stevens (1808-1880) and converted to Mormonism in 1834. Mariah and Roswell moved from Mount Pleasant in 1835 to Missouri and then to Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. They left Nauvoo in 1846 with the Mormon Battalion and eventually settled in Alpine, Utah. Mariah divorced Roswell in 1852 and married Morris Charles Phelps (1805-1876), becoming the third wife in a polygamous marriage. Mariah and Morris had no children. They were living in Montpelier, Bear Lake Idaho in 1870.

Asa Secord's gravestone
at Oakland Cemetery,
Oakland, Brant, Ontario

Asa Secord was born in Upper Canada about 1795 and died 82 years later in 1877. He was bequeathed Lot 24 Concession 12 in Townsend but transferred the property to his brother James in exchange for the use of the Oakland property.

Asa is believed to have served in the militia during the War of 1812. He appears on the list, published in 1876, of War of 1812 militiamen who applied for the twenty dollar gratuity voted by Parliament in 1875. The "corps or division in which he served" is recorded as Gore, however, there was no militia unit by that name, as the Gore District of Upper Canada was not formed until 1816. Asa's name does not appear on the surviving muster rolls of the 5th Lincoln Regiment or the 1st Oxford Regiment.

Asa married twice and had an impressive number of children — 18 in total. All survived to adulthood. The youngest, Anna Darling Secord was born when Asa was 74. Asa married his first wife, Jeannette Brown, daughter of Archibald Brown, about 1824. Their first child, Sarah, was born about 1826. Sarah married Smith Beebe in 1848. Smith was the great-grandson of Mary Secord, although it is unlikely that Sarah and Smith realized they were 3rd cousins.

During the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion, Asa Secord was suspected of helping to secure gunpowder for the rebels led by Dr. Charles Duncombe. He was arrested, but was granted bail on 27 Dec 1837. In March 1838 a conditional pardon was extended to minor participants in the Rebellion.

Jeannette died about 1848 after the birth of her tenth child. Asa's second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Darling, was thirty years younger than Asa, and the same age as his daughter Sarah. Their first child, Clara, was born in 1850.

Asa Secord (1795-1877)

Around 1850, Asa sold off the east half of Lot 9 Concession 2 in two 50 acres parcels. Both the 1859 Tremaine Map and the 1875 Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Brant show Asa on the west half of Lot 9 Concession 2. The 1875 map shows that Asa's farmhouse was located at the north end of his property. 

Asa died on 7 Oct 1877. At least four of his sons emigrated to the United States and settled in Michigan, while his son Edward (1865-1937) moved west to Manitoba and then Saskatchewan. By 1891, only Asa and Sarah's son Charles, born in 1854, was still living in Oakland. Charles remained in Oakland for the rest of his life and was buried at Oakland Cemetery near his parents in 1937. The only other children known to have been buried at Oakland were Asa and Jeannette's daughters Sarah (1826-1892), who married Smith Beebe (1825-1877), and Elizabeth (1828-1891), who married William Wheeler (1826-1917).

Sources:

Bell, David. American Loyalists to New Brunswick: The Ship Passenger Lists. Halifax: Formac Publishing, 2015.

Jaeger, Sharon. The Work of Our Hands: Mount Pleasant, Ontario, 1799~1899: A History. Heritage Mount Pleasant, 2004.

Library and Archives Canada. RG 1 L 3. Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865.

Library and Archives Canada. RG 9 1B7. War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists. 

Moulton, R. Kirk. "The Early Sicard-Secor Families of New York: Origins of United Empire Loyalist William Secord." The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 150 Number 4 (October 2019).

Muir, Robert Cuthbertson. The Early Political and Military History of Burford. Quebec: La Cie D'imprimerie Commerciale, 1913.

Rammage, Stuart A. The Militia Stood Alone: Malcolm Mills, 6 November 1814. Summerland, British Columbia: Valley Publishing, 2000.

Rammage, Stuart. Oakland Township: Two Hundred Years, Volume 1. Unpublished manuscript, 1993. Retrieved from http://images.ourontario.ca/brant/details.asp?ID=75674

Read, Colin. The Rising in Western Upper Canada, 1837-8: The Duncombe Revolt and After. University of Toronto Press, 1982.

Robert Reginald Whale: A Self-Taught Artist

The Dampier Children, 1845, Private Collection

When one thinks of occupations in 19th century rural Canada, artist is not an obvious choice. Despite this, Robert Reginald Whale, who emigrated from England to Canada West (Ontario) in 1852, was a prolific painter who was able to support himself and his family through the sale of his artwork.

Robert was born in Altarnun, Cornwall, on the edge of Bodmin Moor, and was baptised at St Nonna's Church in Altarnun on 20 Mar 1805. He was the sixth of seven children of Christopher Whale (1763-1838) and Grace Burnard (1767-1830). Christopher was a tenant farmer at either Higher or Lower Tregunnon at the time of Robert's birth.

Robert demonstrated a talent for drawing and painting at an early age. According to his obituary in the Brantford Weekly Expositor, his first commission was at the age of eleven. A few years later, when Albany Saville (1783-1831) hired Robert's older brother John to paint rooms at Oaklands near Okehampton, Devon, Robert accompanied his brother and was given permission to copy works from Saville's collection which included portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792).

Bessie Limbrey Whale
(1837-1862)
Vancouver Art Galley

In 1836, Robert married Ellen Heard (1837-1862) of Bideford, Devon. After their marriage, Robert and Ellen lived in Bideford. Their first child, Bessie Limbrey Whale was born in 1838, followed by Mary in 1841, and Ellen in 1843. Robert and Ellen had a total of ten children, Their two youngest were born in Canada. Robert Heard Whale, born in 1859, was named after his brother Robert Heard Whale who had died in Bideford in 1844.

Ellen's ancestry is a bit of a mystery. In the Whale Family fonds at the National Gallery of Canada is a sextant belonging to Ellen's purported father, William Heard, a mariner who transported emigrants to Quebec.  Ellen's baptism at Bideford on 12 Jun 1816, however, shows that she was the base child of Mary Heard, daughter of John Heard (1749-1816) and Elizabeth Limbrey (1752-1830). Was Ellen Heard's father a mariner named William Heard? It is interesting to note that Ellen's marriage to Robert was witnessed by Mary's brother Thomas Sams Heard (1791-1869), and that Bessie Whale's middle name was Limbrey.

John Lucius Dampier
(1793-1853)
Truro City Council

In 1846 the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society awarded Robert a silver medal for one of his landscapes which contained, "excellencies of no ordinary degree." Also exhibited was a portrait of a group of children. This may have been the portrait of a brother and two sisters admiring a watercolour that was painted in 1845 for John Lucius Dampier (1793-1853) and sold at auction by Christie's in 2011. Portrayed is Dampier's children: William Thomas (1829-1904), Jane (1837-1905), and Emily (1838-1920). Dampier was a barrister and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries of Cornwall. A portrait of Dampier held by Truro City Council is unsigned but was most likely painted by Robert. 

Other early patrons were Welsh industrialist and Member of Parliament John Henry Vivian (1785-1855), and his brother Lieutenant General Sir Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian (1775-1842). Hussey Vivian had served with distinction during the Peninsula Wars and had commanded the 6th Calvary Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo.

Ellen Whale (1841-1908)
Private collection

In 1851, Robert and his family were living at 12 Bridgeland Street in Bideford. The house later became the masonic hall and is a Grade II* listed building. A domestic servant, Mary Shaxon, is listed with the family. On 28 May 1851, six of Robert and Ellen’s seven children, were baptised at St Mary’s, Bideford.

The exception was their daughter Mary who had been baptised at Luxulyan, Cornwall. Robert and his young family had briefly lived in Luxulyan, the home of Sir John Colman Rashleigh (1772-1847), 1st Baronet of Prideaux House. Sir John, an advocate for parliamentary reform during the 1820s, had been an early patron of Robert’s and is thought to have sponsored his trips to London to develop his artistic talent by copying works in private collections and at the National Gallery.

John Constable
The Cornfield, 1826
National Gallery

Robert painting almost exclusively in oils and worked quickly. In his portraits the sitter is often highlighted against a shadowed background and looks directly out of the frame. While Robert's portraits were strongly influenced by the work of Joshua Reynolds, his landscapes were undoubtedly inspired by John Constable (1776-1837). Like Constable, Robert often placed small figures in his landscapes. Robert's 1862 View of Hamilton has a number of similarities to Constable's The Cornfield which was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1826 and was presented to the National Gallery in 1837.

In the spring of 1852, Robert and his family left England for the Province of Canada. His decision to leave was no doubt influenced by his brother John who several years earlier had emigrated with his family to Canada and had settled in Burford near Brantford.

View of Hamilton, 1862, Art Gallery of Hamilton

Bideford in the early 1850s was the main port of departure for emigrants from North Devon. The North Devon Journal announced the sailing of two ships for Quebec in April 1852. The barques Secret and Worthy of Devon were both owned by timber merchant Richard Heard (1790-1872), who may have been a distant relative of Ellen's:

EMIGRATION.—We are happy in being able to announce that the tide of emigration is not likely to abate this year as far as Bideford is concerned. The labouring classes are flocking by scores to secure their berths, and a full complement of passengers is expected, both for that fine old ship the 'Secret' and her younger sister in the trade, the 'Worthy of Devon.' Already the 'Secret' has made a move, having been hauled out from her berth, and is now lying abreast of the quay, presenting her broadside to the High-street, and smilingly welcomes the Sons of Hope on board, to tread her decks once more on her passage over the broad Atlantic.

The departure of the Secret "with a fair wind" on the evening of April 5th was noted in the North Devon Journal. On Thursday, April 22nd the Journal reported: "the Worthy of Devon went over the bar on Tuesday evening last, with the hearty wishes of all assembled for their future prosperity."

In May, the Journal announced the arrival of the Secret at Quebec:

Good News for the Friends and Relatives of Emigrants.—It will be very gratifying to the friends of those who emigrated in the Barque 'Secret,' from Bideford, to learn that that favourite ship has had a most prosperous and speedy passage to Quebec, at which place she arrived on the 6th of May, and landed all her passengers in good health and excellent spirits, who expressed themselves very highly pleased with the ship and commander. She made the passage out in an almost incredibly short time; and but for the ice she would have reached Quebec in 21 days after she Bideford.

A month, the Journal reported the safe arrival of the Worthy of Devon at Quebec: "The whole of the passengers expressed themselves much pleases with their find ship and the kindness of the commander. They experienced much stormy weather during the voyage, but all went on well on board, and the voyage terminated without any accident to any of the passengers."

 

Three Children, Glenhyrst Art Gallery

Robert made his home in Burford near his brother, becoming one of the first professional artists to work in rural Canada. Robert and Ellen's second youngest, Charles Christopher Whale, was born shortly after their arrival. 1852 also saw the death of his son, William Bartlett Whale who had been born in Bideford the previous year.

Charlotte Whale
(1845-1875)
Private collection

Robert and Ellen had made the undoubtedly difficult decision to leave one of their children behind in England. Occasionally, when a family emigrated from England, a sickly child would be left behind in the care of friends or relatives. This is likely what happened with Charlotte Richards Whale.

Charlotte was born in Bideford on 19 Mar 1845 and was baptised there in May 1851. She does not appear with the family in the 1851 Census but is listed as a visitor in the household of George and Mary Richards in Bideford.

The 1861 Census shows 16-year-old Charlotte Whale as a visitor in the household of George and Mary Richards. In 1866, Charlotte married Thomas Martin Murphy. Murphy died two years later and in 1870 Charlotte married Frederick Hill. The 1871 Census shows Charlotte and Frederick living in Bideford. With them is Mary Richards. Charlotte died in Bideford on 20 Jan 1875 and was buried there on 25 Jan 1875.

View of Hamilton, 1853
National Gallery of Canada

Robert wasted little time upon arriving in Canada. He exhibited at the Provincial Agricultural Fair in Toronto in September 1852 and received a number of prizes. His 1853 View of Hamilton was likely exhibited at the 1854 Provincial Agricultural Fair in Hamilton. Robert continued exhibiting at the Provincial until 1867 and was also a frequent exhibitor at local fairs where he would often win the prize money.

In 1862, Robert won a silver medal for one of three landscapes sent to the International Exhibition in London, England. A few years later he created a multi-panel panorama of the 1857 Indian Mutiny that was shown throughout Canada West. Each of the twenty oil on canvas panels measured eight feet by six feet. Illuminated by oil lamps, and accompanied by music and a narrator, the "Great Panorama of the Mutiny in India" drew crowds wherever it was shown. Admission was 15 cents for adults and 10 cents for children.

The Canada Southern Railway at Niagara, Glenhyrst Gallery

Robert painted numerous views of Niagara Falls. Several of these paintings depict a steam engine and coaches passing in front of the falls, and have a distinct "folk art" quality to them. Many of these landscapes were hurriedly produced, then copied and sold to tourists who had arrived by train to visit the falls. Some are almost identical such as The Canada Southern Railway at Niagara and The Michigan Central Railway at Niagara where the only significant difference is the lettering on the coaches.

William Hamilton Merritt
1793-1862
St. Catharines Museum

Portraits by Robert were commissioned by local dignitaries such as Sir Allan Napier MacNab and William Hamilton Merritt. Robert's portrait of Merritt, father of the Welland Canal, was adapted for an 1974 stamp commemorating the canal. Robert's portrait of MacNab, Premier of the Province of Canada from 1854 to 1856, graces the entrance of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton as does two of Robert's landscapes.

A number of writers have attributed a portrait of Dr. Charles Duncombe to Robert, however, this is problematic as Duncombe, a leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion, fled to the United States in December 1837 and never returned.

Robert was a charter member of the Ontario Society of Artists founded in 1872. At the Society's first exhibition in 1873, he won first prize for "Portrait of a Lady." In 1881, Robert became an Associate Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and contributed works to their exhibitions until 1886.

John Hicks Whale
(1829-1905)
National Gallery of Canada

In the summer of 1870 Robert visited England and was reunited with his daughter Charlotte. His nephew and son-in-law John Hicks Whale (1829-1905) wrote to his wife Mary that her father wore himself out painting portraits and almost neglected to visit his sisters.

After Ellen's death from cancer in 1871. Robert went back to England and remained there until September 1876. On his return to Canada he lived with his nephew and daughter in Brantford until his death on July 1, 1887. Robert was buried at the Congregational Cemetery in Burford.

Two of Robert's children, John Claude Whale (1849-1905) and Robert Heard Whale (1859-1909) were also artists, as was his nephew John Hicks Whale. Robert Heard Whale studied at the Royal Academy in London, and at the Academie Julien in Paris under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. After the death of his father he emigrated to Capetown, South Africa.

Robert's paintings can be found at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Museum London, the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the McCord Museum, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. The largest collection is at the Glenhyrst Gallery in Brantford.

Gravestone at Burford Congregational Cemetery

Sources:

Beatty, Linda Belshaw. "Whale, Robert." Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 11. University of Toronto/Université Laval. 1982. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/whale_robert_11E.html

Harper, J. Russell. "A Study of Art at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibitions: Ontario Painters, 1846-1867." National Gallery of Canada Bulletin, Vol. 1 (May 1963).

Lefler, Ruth. "Whale of an Artist," The Brantford Expositor, March 29, 2019.

National Gallery of Canada. Robert Whale Family fonds.

"Obituary," The Brantford Daily Expositor, July 8, 1887.

Robinson, Mel. "Burford's First Movies," Burford Times, February 15, 1995, p. 13. https://images.ourontario.ca/brant/2350886/image/1060640

Richard Cartwright: Loyalist, Merchant, and Slave Owner

Cartwright monument,
Lower Burial Ground,
Kingston, Ontario

Kingston's Lower Burial Ground is one of Ontario's oldest cemeteries. The first burial, a soldier of the King's Royal Regiment of New York, took place in 1783. Early residents of the town, British soldiers, Provincial Marine sailors, slaves, and free blacks are all buried here. Notable burials include Molly Brant (1736-1796), Rev. Dr. John Stuart (1740-1811), Colonel Sir Richard Bonnycastle (1791-1847), and the Honorable Richard Cartwright (1759-1815).

Richard Cartwright was a merchant, mill owner, shipbuilder, distillery owner, land speculator, judge, Legislative Councillor, author, publisher, and a militia colonel. According to the eulogy delivered by Rev. John Strachan, Richard was a man of considerable intellect who had a phenomenal memory, was a fair and honest merchant, an independently minded politician, and a staunch loyalist.

Most of what has been written about Richard Cartwright has focused on his years in Kingston. Less attention has been given to his years as secretary to Major John Butler of Butler's Rangers, and to his status as a slave owner in Upper Canada.

Richard's story begins on 2 Feb 1759 in Albany, New York. Richard was the son of innkeeper and deputy postmaster Richard Cartwright (1720-1794) who was born in London, England and had emigrated to New York in 1742. Richard Smith, who travelled the river valleys of New York and Pennsylvania in 1769, wrote, "We found Cartwright's a good Tavern tho his charges were exorbitant." Richard's mother was Johanna Beasley (1726-1795), who had been born in Albany "of a loyal Dutch family." Richard was baptised on St Peter's Church in Albany on 16 Mar 1759.

Despite suffering from a loss of vision in his left eye due to a childhood accident, Richard studied “the classics and higher branches of education,” and learned to read Greek and Latin. When the Revolutionary War began, Richard was studying Hebrew and was considering become a Church of England minister.

In early 1777, however, Richard ran afoul of the Albany Committee of Correspondence. A letter to his sister Elizabeth Robison¹ at Niagara had been intercepted and turned over the Committee. What exactly the letter contained is not known, however, Richard was ordered to "enter into security for his future good behaviour." In October, Richard's father successfully petitioned the Committee to recommend that the commander of the Northern Department, Major General Horatio Gates, grant a pass to Canada for his son and his granddaughter, Hannah Robison.²

Loyalists who fled to Canada during the American Revolution rarely had the opportunity to describe their journeys. This was not the case with Richard, who wrote a detailed description of the twelve days he spent travelling from Albany to Montreal in the fall of 1777.

I set out from Albany 27th of October and notwithstanding the tender Feelings of Humanity which I suffered at Parting from the fondest of Parents and a Number of agreeable Acquaintance it gave me a sensible Pleasure to quit a Place were Discord reign’d and all the miseries of Anarchy had long prevailed.

Richard, accompanied by a Major Hughes,³ rode 22 kilometres in the rain that first morning; then spent the next two nights at the home of a Mrs. Peebles because of the rain. At dusk on the first night, Richard and Major Hughes were joined by a Captain Collier and Lieutenant Dowland, "very dirty & wet and not a little cold and Hungry." Richard describes October 28th as, "far from disagreeable, we had an obliging Landlady, a warm Room, good company, and plenty of excellent Victuals and Drink."

Detail of from William Faden's 1777 The
North American Atlas showing the Hudson
River, Lake George and Lake Champlain.
Source: Library of Congress

Richard resumed his journey on the morning of 29th but made a slight detour to visit the site of the Battles of Saratoga. A month earlier, American forces commanded by General Gates had blocked British forces invading from Canada during the Saratoga Campaign. After suffering over 1,100 casualties during two battles fought on the same ground 18 days apart, British Major General John Burgoyne withdrew to Saratoga (now Schuylerville). On October 17th, surrounded by an overwhelming American force, Burgoyne surrendered to Gates. Over 6,200 British regulars as well as soldiers from the German principalities of Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel were taken prisoner.

The failure of the Saratoga Campaign marked a major turning point in the Revolutionary War. In his journal, Richard wrote of "traversing these bloody Fields, where many a brave and generous men have met their Fate."

At Fish Creek that evening, Richard waited anxiously for the arrival of the wagons carrying his baggage and his nine-year-old niece Hannah. Richard met up with the wagons the next morning and continued north arriving at Bakers Falls on the Hudson River. On the morning of 31st the party reached Lake George. That afternoon a boat ferried them to Diamond Island where they met up with a detachment of British soldiers. Richard wrote of his "inexpressible pleasure to think myself at a happy distance from those scenes of outrage, tumult, and oppression, and to find myself secure from those petty tyrants."

The following day they proceeded by barge with the soldiers down Lake George to Ticonderoga Landing. Richard relates that when they stopped to dine ashore, Hannah "tumbled headlong into the Lake, and I wet myself much in getting her out. Such a ducking was then not a little unpleasant, but dry cloaths and a good fire prevented us from receiving any detriment."

Richard arrived at Ticonderoga Landing just as the British were in the process of demolishing Fort Ticonderoga which they had captured from the Americans less than four months earlier.

A boat was procured and the party rowed and sailed north on Lake Champlain. After camping ashore the first night, the second night was spent aboard the schooner Liberty which conveyed them to Point au Fer at the northern end of the lake. Returning to their boat the party entered the Richelieu River, and that evening arrived at St. John, now known as Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. St. John was an important British fort and shipyard, and had been the location of a 45-day siege during the Invasion of Quebec in 1775.

Richard remained at St. John for two days before proceeding "on the worse road I ever saw" to Laprarie on the south side of the St Lawrence River. The next morning Richard and Hannah walked through falling snow to the ferry which took them across the river to Montreal, "my niece much fatigued and both not a little dirty." The entire trip from Albany to Montreal took 12 days.

Richard's arrival at Montreal was fortuitous. John Butler, Deputy Superintendent of the Indian Department, had been promoted to Major and been given permission to raise a Corps of Rangers to be based at Fort Niagara. The first two companies raised were "to be composed of people speaking the Indian language and acquainted with their customs and manner of making war." Butler needed a secretary and Richard fit the bill.

Richard served as Butler's secretary until 1780, and was quartered at Fort Niagara on the east side of the Niagara River where it empties into Lake Ontario. At Niagara he would meet Magdalen Secord, daughter of Lieutenant James Secord of the Indian Department. Also at Niagara were his brother-in-law, Thomas Robison, and his sister, Elizabeth Cartwright.

In 1780, Richard wrote an account of events during his time as Butler's secretary. His account provides a civilian's perspective of key events in the history of Butler's Rangers including the Battle of Wyoming and the Cherry Valley Massacre.

Massacre of Wyoming by Alonzo Chappel, 1858
Source: Chicago History Museum

In May 1778, Richard accompanied Major Butler to Tioga at the confluence of the Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers. From Tioga, Butler led a joint force of Rangers and Seneca down the Susquehanna to attack settlements in the area known as the Wyoming Valley. On 3 Jul 1778, after capturing two smaller forts, Butler ambushed a force of about 300 Patriot militia who had left the security of Forty Fort in the belief that Butler was withdrawing. The inexperienced militia panicked and ran, and were slaughtered by the Seneca.

Richard wrote:

...a very warm engagement ensued, and lasted for about fifteen minutes, when the rebels retreated with precipitation, and were hotly pursued by the Indians, who took 226 scalps and three prisoners, and several were besides drowned in attempting to pass the river.

The Battle of Wyoming, also known as the Wyoming Massacre, was used as a propaganda tool by the Americans who accused the Rangers and Seneca of atrocities, including the murder of women and children. Richard refutes this:

All this was said to be done without any acts of cruelty being committed by the savages; for the deliberate murder of prisoners after they are brought into their camp is not, it seems, reckoned among acts of cruelty by these barbarous wretches.

Richard noted that Butler returned to Tioga on the 10th "and on the 14th set off for Niagara with a party of the Rangers and several families of Loyalists."

Richard recorded the attacks that Haudenosaunee war leader Joseph Brant made on the settlements of Cobleskill, Minisink, and German Flatts and briefly describes the attack on Cherry Valley by Captain Walter Butler, Brant, and Seneca war chief Cornplanter: "This settlement was soon destroyed, a number of the inhabitants and some officers and soldiers, who happened to be out of the fort, killed and taken, and such acts of wanton cruelty committed by the blood thirsty savages as humanity would shudder to mention."

Map showing the territory covered by the 1779
Sullivan Expedition. Source: Library of Congress

The Battle of Wyoming, the Battle of Cobleskill, The Attack on German Flatts, the Cherry Valley Massacre and other raids on frontier settlements triggered an overwhelming American response in the summer of 1779. The Sullivan Expedition was a punitive scorched earth campaign against the Haudenosaunee. In his orders to Major General John Sullivan, George Washington wrote:

The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.

Sullivan led approximately 3200 soldiers deep into Haudenosaunee territory and destroyed more than 40 villages along with their crops and orchards. Thousands of Haudenosaunee refugees fled to Fort Niagara.  Many starved or froze to death that winter, despite efforts by the British to import food and provide shelter.
On August 29, 1779, at Newtown on the Chemung River west of Tioga, John Butler attempted to stop the American advance with a combined force of Rangers and Haudenosaunee. Severely outnumbered, under fire from six artillery pieces, and threatened with encirclement, Butler retreated.

In his report to Lieutenant Colonel Mason Bolton, Commanding Officer at Fort Niagara, Butler describes the action:

After a little while they began to play their artillery, consisting of six pieces of cannon and cohorns, against our breastwork, discharging shells, round and grapeshot, iron spikes, &c, incessantly, which soon obliged us to leave it. I retreated with the Rangers and a number of the Indians to the hill, which I found the enemy had gained before us as I foresaw they intended.

The shells bursting beyond us made the Indians imagine the enemy had got their artillery all round us and so startled and confused them that a great part of them ran off. We then proceeded along the hill, skirmishing with the rebel for above a mile till they had nearly surrounded us and we were obliged then to make the best of our way, some along the hill and others across the river, to prevent being cut to pieces, which the greatest part of must inevitably have been had the rebels acted with spirit.

Butler concludes with:

The consequences of this affair will, I fear, be of the most serious nature and unless there is speedily a large reinforcement sent into the country at any rate those families whose villages and corn have been destroyed will be flocking into Niagara to be supported, and you know the quantity of provisions they will consume.

Richard had spent much of the summer of 1779 with Butler at the Seneca village of Canadasaga⁴ between the northern ends of Seneca and Canandaigua lakes, and was with Butler at Newtown. Richard wrote on July 1st:

We have been now two Months in the Indian Country, a time too long to spend among the savages in the woods, where we are wasting too many of our liveliest and most cheerful days, the days of our youth, in idleness and dissipation.

Richard writes of the arrival on July 5th of Mr. Seacord⁵ with ammunition and stores including some tobacco, which Richard describes as a "useless weed." He writes of refugee families on their way to Niagara, of the "want of provisions," and of thefts of cattle by the Seneca. He describes three waterfalls on the Genesee River but admits, "after one has seen the Falls of Niagara almost every other must appear little." And he writes of the deaths of Lieutenant Henry Hare and Sergeant Newberry who were "taken by the enemy and hanged as spies."

Wolves of the Mohawk Valley by Don Troiani

Richard records Butler negotiating the release of women and children taken captive by the Haudenosaunee: "To a sensible mind no pleasure can equal that of relieving the distressed, and women who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Indians are distressed indeed." Richard's journal from the summer of 1779 shows his abhorrence of how the Haudenosaunee waged war. He describes Mohawk raiding parties as "bands of lurking assassins" who seek to "glut their cruelty alike with the blood of friend and foe without distinction of sex or age... it is impossible to bring them to leave women and children unmolested."    

On August 5th, Richard wrote:

Begin to grow more and more tired of this our way of life. Neither my application to business or books can prevent me from sometimes reflecting how disagreeably I am situated in many respects, and looking back to Niagara with a wishful eye.

By August 13th, Butler received confirmation that Sullivan's forces had reached Tioga. On the 16th, the Rangers and their Haudenosaunee allies set out to meet the enemy at Newtown on the Chemung River. The day before, Richard wrote a letter to Francis Goring, an employee of Thomas Robison:

I am so much hurried that I have not time to write to Mrs. Robinson. Make my compliments to her and the family. I wish you would send me soon a couple of pairs of trousers as I am beginning to grow ragged.

Richard's account of the battle mirrors Butler's report to Lieutenant Colonel Bolton. In his journal, however, Richard once again questions benefits of working with the Haudenosaunee:

The behaviour of the Indians on this occasion has fully convinced me that tho they may exert themselves against defenceless people or an enemy taken at surprise with great fury, they will soon give way when taken at equal terms in the field.

Butler retreated to Canadasaga where he tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Haudenosaunee to make a stand. Butler abandoned the village and Sullivan's forces took possession on September 7th. Sullivan's army crossed the Genesse River on September 9th and on the 15th reached the Seneca town of Geneseo. After destroying Geneseo, Sullivan turned his army around and sent detachments to destroy the Cayuga villages on Lake Cayuga. Sullivan was back at Tioga by the end of the month. Butler, meanwhile, retreated with his Rangers to Buffalo Creek and then to Fort Niagara.

Robert Hamilton

In May 1780, Richard resigned as Butler's secretary and went into partnership with Robert Hamilton (1753-1809). Hamilton had come to Canada in 1778 to serve an apprenticeship as a clerk first at Montreal and later at Carleton Island with Robert Ellice and Company. During the Revolutionary War, Carleton Island was an important staging area for raids on the Mohawk Valley, and a critical transshipment location where supplies for Niagara, Detroit, and Michilmackinac were transferred from St. Lawrence River batteaux to Naval Department ships. In 1778, the British established a naval base and shipyard on the island in 1778 and began construction of Fort Haldimand.

Details about Cartwright life for the next few years are scarce. At Niagara, Cartwright and Hamilton provided materials for Butler's Rangers, the Indian Department, and the Fort Niagara garrison, and developed a reputation for reliability, respectability, and patriotism. In 1781, Cartwright and Hamilton entered into a co-partnership with merchant and fur trader John Askin of Detroit, however, this  partnership ended in 1784. In 1782, Cartwright and Hamilton were given permission by Haldimand to open a branch of their company at Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario. A year later the Oswego branch moved to Cataraqui (Kingston).

Cartwright, remained at Niagara until the end of the war and appears on the Return of Persons at Niagara dated December 1, 1783.  Also on the return is the family of James Secord including his 19-year-old daughter Magdalen. Richard and Magdalen were married in 1784, likely at Niagara. Their first child, James, was baptised at Cataraqui on 9 Jan 1785, which suggests that Richard moved from Niagara in 1784.

Richard Cartwright went on to became a highly successful merchant. He received contracts to supply the Kingston garrison, and with Hamilton, the military posts on the Great Lakes. Richard became involved in shipbuilding, purchased the Napanee mills in 1792; bought the Kingston Gazette in 1811, and contributed articles to the paper under the pseudonym Falkland. He was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas in 1788, and was made of member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada in 1792. In 1799, he brought John Strachan, who later became the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto, to Upper Canada as a tutor for his children.

Richard and Magdalen had eight children. Their two eldest sons, James and Richard died in 1811, followed by their 19-year-old daughter Hannah in 1812 and their 13-year-old son Stephen in 1814. Richard, aged 56, died in Montreal on July 27, 1815. Magdalen, aged 66, died in Kingston on January 4, 1827.

Plan of the City of Albany around 1770 by Robert Yates.
Source: Albany Institute of History & Art

In the months that had followed Richard's departure from Albany, his father had come under increasing scrutiny. In his 1787 claim for losses, Richard Sr. wrote "that his well know attachment to the King's Government soon attracted the jealousy of the revolutionists."

In May 1777, the Committee of Correspondence had declared Richard Sr. and several others, "persons whose characters are suspicious and who by their influence in the County are supposed dangerous to this State." Faced with possible incarceration in a prison ship at Kingston, New York, Richard swore an oath that he not involved in any conspiracy against the state.

Richard Cartwright's Claim for Losses

In April 1778, Richard helped Walter Butler escape from captivity. Butler, the son of John Butler, had been captured shortly after the Siege of Fort Stanwix and had been sentenced to hang as a spy. The sentence was commuted and Butler was sent to prison in Albany. Butler petitioned to be moved from the unhealthy conditions of the Albany Gaol, and in February 1778, he was transferred to the home of Richard Cartwright. In his claim for losses, Richard wrote, "that your memorialist saved the life of Captⁿ Butler who afterwards fell in the service by effecting his Escape from his own home, when under the sentence of Death, at the risque of his own life."

On June 4, 1778 a mob attacked Richard's home. Richard claimed that the mob numbered between three and four thousand, but this is unlikely as the population of Albany was less than 4000. Richard was "beat and bruised, and his effects destroyed."

On July 21, 1778 the Commissioners for Conspiracies ordered that Richard "prepare and hold himself in readiness to be removed unto the enemy's lines on Saturday next and at any time thereafter on the shortest notice." It was not until August 19th, however, that Richard and Johanna were "conveyed away by a guard to Crown Point" on the west shore of Lake Champlain.

Richard and Johanna spent the rest of the Revolutionary War as refugees in Montreal. Richard appears on various Returns of Loyalist refugees in Quebec until September 1784. A document in the Haldimand Papers dated May 11, 1781 notes that Richard, "was very useful to the friends of Government whilst he lived in Albany." Richard Sr. and Johanna joined their son in Cataraqui when Richard Jr. moved there from Niagara. Richard Sr. died in 1794 and Johanna a year later.

James Peachey, A South East View of Cataraqui, 1783
Source: Toronto Public Library

One aspect of Richard Cartwright's life that is rarely examined is his status as an enslaver. When Richard moved to Cataraqui from Niagara he brought with him Joseph Gutches, an enslaved person who had been born in 1763 in the Schoharie Valley region of New York. Joseph's original owner, Tunis Vrooman, was killed during a raid by a party of Haudenosaunee and Brant's Volunteers on August 9, 1780. Joseph and other captives were taken to Niagara where Joseph was bought by John Dunn, a volunteer with the Indian Department at Niagara. Dunn sold Joseph to a Mr. Allan,⁶ and Allan sold him to Richard for £125. In the 1786 Provisioning List at Cataraqui, Joseph appears as "Mr. Cartwright's negro."

In 1787, Joseph appeared before a Board of Inquiry and testified, "that he was taken by the Indians and sold for a slave for life but that he was at the time of his capture bound only to serve until 21 years of age.” In his written response Richard stated, "I have every reason to believe that he [Joseph] was always legally a slave, from the Testimony of People who knew him when in the Possession of Vrooman some of whom are still at Niagara." Joseph "continued in the service" of Richard Cartwright, although at some point he became a paid employee rather than a slave. After Richard's death, Joseph was a servant in the household of Richard's son, John Solomon Cartwright.

Joseph's obituary appeared in the Chronicle & Gazette on November 2, 1842:

Died – On Sunday afternoon, Joseph Gutches, a coloured man, well known in Kingston, at the advanced age of 79. He was born in the State of New York, then a British Colony, and came to Canada about 1782, in the family of the late Hon. Richard Cartwright, and continued in the service of that gentleman or his sons every since, a period of 60 years. He remembered Kingston since 1784. He used to say that at that time with the exception of the old French fort and a few wooden houses, this place presented nothing to view but pine woods and girdled stumps – what a change he lived to witness. But few now remain of these early settlers – peace be unto them.

---

Notes:

¹ Richard's sister Elizabeth (? -1829) had married Thomas Robison (? - 1806) at Albany on 11 Oct 1767. Robison was a captain in the Naval Department following the Seven Years War and commanded various ships on Lake Erie including the schooner Earl of Dunmore, and the brig General Gage. During the Revolutionary War he was briefly in command of vessels operating on Lake Ontario. He resigned from the Naval Department in 1777 and became a merchant supplying British forces at Niagara. After the war, he returned to the United States and settled in Portland, Maine where he became a distiller and merchant. Robinson retired to Kingston, Upper Canada in 1805.

² Hannah Robison, the daughter of Thomas Robison and Elizabeth Cartwright, was born in Albany, New York in 1768. She married Stephen Codman in 1788 in Portland, Maine, and died there in 1819.

³ Possibly William Hughes of the 53rd Regiment of Foot

⁴ Cartwright refers to the village as Canadasagoe, which was also called Kanadaseaga.

⁵ Possibly John Secord who had been discharged from Butler's Rangers in October 1778 due to his age.

⁶ Possibly Ebenezer Allan of the Indian Department.

Sources:

Cartwright, Richard. A Journey to Canada. Richard Cartwright Fonds, Library and Archives Canada, MG23-H17

Cartwright, Richard. Continuation of a Journal of an Expedition Into the Indian Country 1779. Cartwright Family Fonds, Archives of Ontario, F24

Cartwright, Richard. "Memorandum of Indian Operations from 1778 to 1780, Made at Niagara in 1780." in Cartwright, Conway Edward (Ed.) Life and Letters of the late Hon. Richard Cartwright, member of Legislative Council in the first Parliament of Upper Canada. Toronto: Belford Bros., 1876.

Durham, J. H., Carleton Island in the Revolution: The Old Fort and its Builders: with Notes and Brief Biographical Sketches. Syracuse, New York: C. W. Bardeen, 1889, p. 87-8.

Ford, Ben and Taylor Napoleon. "Life Outside the Walls: Recent Archaeological Investigations at Fort Haldimand, Carleton Island. The Bulletin and Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association. Numbers 131-132, 2017-2018, p. 67-80.

Gibson, Sarah Katherine. Carleton Island 1778-1783: Imperial Outpost during the American Revolutionary War. MA Thesis, Queen's University, 1999.

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

Library and Archives Canada. Francis Goring Fonds. MG24-D4

Library and Archives Canada. Haldimand Papers. (MG21, Add. MSS 21765, Volumes B105, B166, B167, B168)

Paltsits, Victor Hugo (ed). Minutes of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New York: Albany County Sessions, 1778-1781. Albany: State of New York, 1910.

Rawlyk, George and Janice Potter, “Cartwright, Richard,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/cartwright_richard_5E.html

"Slavery in Kingston: The Story of Joseph Gutches," Stones: Black History Walking Tour
http://www.stoneskingston.ca/black-history/slavery-in-kingston-the-story-of-joseph-gutches/

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. https://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/9242

Strachan, John. "Life of the Hon. Richard Cartwright" in Cartwright, Conway Edward (Ed.) Life and Letters of the late Hon. Richard Cartwright, member of Legislative Council in the first Parliament of Upper Canada. Toronto: Belford Bros., 1876.

The National Archives of the UK. American Loyalist Claims, 1776–1835 (AO 12–13).

Watt, Gavin. Fire & Desolation: The Revolutionary War's 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontier. Toronto: Dundurn, 2017.

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

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

Wilson, Bruce G. Enterprises of Robert Hamilton: A Study of Wealth and Influence in Early Upper Canada, 1776-1812.  Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1983

Alexander Dobbs: A Royal Navy Officer on Lake Ontario

In Company by Peter Rindlisbacher. HMS St Lawrence followed by
Prince Regent, and Star commanded by Commander Alexander Dobbs

When students in Ontario are taught about the War of 1812, they typically learn about events such as the Battle of Queenston Heights (1812), the Battle of Crysler's Farm (1813) and the Battle of Lundy's Lane (1814); or individuals such as Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Laura Secord, and Richard Pierpoint. Far less attention is paid to the activities of the Royal Navy on the Great Lakes, apart from their disastrous loss to the Americans at the Battle of Lake Erie (1813).

One person who experienced the War of 1812 as a Royal Navy officer on the Great Lakes was Alexander Dobbs. Alexander Thomas Dobbs was likely born in Dublin, Ireland about 1784, the fourth son of Francis Dobbs (1750-1811) and Jane Stewart (1873-1828). Francis Dobbs was an Irish barrister, author, poet, and parliamentarian who was opposed to the 1800 Act of Union with Great Britain.

Alexander Dobbs joined the Royal Navy in 1799 as a midshipman aboard the frigate Santa Margarita. He received his commission as a lieutenant at the age of 20. While a passenger on the Thetis bound for Barbados, he helped repel an attack by the French privateer Le Buonaparte.

After serving in the West Indies on the Epervier, he was invalided home suffering from yellow fever. After his recovery he served on a number of different vessels including Confiance, Topaze, Northumberland, and Leviathan. Dobbs saw action in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815).

Leviathan, Imperieuse, Curacoa, and Eclair attacking
two towns on the coast of Genoa, June 27th 1812

In April 1812, Dobbs led an attack using Leviathan's boats on several French vessels moored near Frejus on the Côte d'Azur, capturing four merchant vessels and damaging a privateer. Two months later, Dobbs participated in the destruction a French convoy which had assembled at Alassio and Laigueglia on the Gulf of Genoa. In his report of the action, Captain Patrick Campbell made special mention of Alexander Dobbs:

I feel much indebted to Lieutenant Dobbs, first of this ship, for his judicious arrangement in disembarking, embarking, and covering the marines, as they advanced to the different batteries.

In the spring of 1813, the Admiralty sent Commodore Sir James Lucus Yeo (1782-1818) and a contingent of 465 officers and men to Canada. Among the officers was Lieutenant Dobbs who had briefly served under Yeo on the Confiance. Yeo's contingent arrived at Kingston, Upper Canada in May 1813. Shortly after arriving in Kingston, Dobbs was promoted to acting commander and given command of the HMS Earl of Moira.

Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo

Moira was a 14-gun schooner built in 1805 at the Kingston Royal Navy Dockyard in Kingston. The schooner measured 21.5 metres in length with a beam of 7.2 metres and a draught of 2.1 metres. In 1813, Moira was re-rigged as a brig and re-armed with two 9-pounder guns and fourteen 24-pounder carronades. A carronade was a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon with a relatively short range. In 1814 the armament was changed to a single 18-pounder and twelve 24-pounder carronades.

Later that month, Moira supported the British assault at the Second Battle of Sackett's Harbour, an unsuccessful attempt to capture the principal dockyard and base for the American naval squadron on Lake Ontario.

In June 1813, Moira transported elements of the 8th Regiment of Foot to 40 Mile Creek on the Niagara Peninsula following the British victory at the Battle of Stoney Creek.

Moira was with Yeo's squadron when it briefly engaged the American fleet near the mouth of the Genesee River on 11 Sep 1813.

Enemy in Sight by Peter Rindlisbacher. HMS Wolfe
followed by the Royal George, Melville, and Moira

On 28 Sep 1813, Moira again saw action when Yeo's squadron engaged the American squadron, commanded by Commodore Isaac Chauncey, south of York. Moira was fourth in the line of battle. During the battle an exchange of broadsides with the American flagship, USS General Pike, severely damaged Yeo's flagship, HMS Wolfe. Commander William Mulcaster of the Royal George maneuvered his ship between the Pike and Wolfe, allowing Wolfe to disengaged. Meanwhile Moira and Melville engaged other ships of the American squadron.

Once Wolfe was clear and heading west towards the head of Lake Ontario, the rest of Yeo's ships turned and followed. Chauncey ordered his fleet to chase down the British squadron, but an east wind and faster ships allowed Yeo to escape with his squadron intact. At the end of the lake, Yeo formed a battle line close into shore. Chauncey, recognizing that maneuvering his ships would be risky and dangerous, broke off the pursuit. The engagement would later be facetiously dubbed the "Burlington Races."

In his report of the battle, Yeo wrote:

[When] the main and mizzen topmasts of this ship were shot away, by which she became unmanageable on the wind, I put the squadron before the wind for a small bay at the head of the lake where he [Chauncey] would have been under the necessity of engaging on more equal terms. this however he declined ... and on approaching the bay, he hauled off, leaving us in this state perfectly unmolested to refit the squadron.

In early November 1813, Moira was part of an detachment that bombarded American forces staging at French Creek on the south bank of the St Lawrence River opposite Grindstone Island. While American artillery forced the British to withdraw, the forces that had gathered at French Creek would later be defeated at the Battle of Crysler's Farm.

In January 1814, HMS Earl of Moira was renamed HMS Charwell. Dobbs remained in command.

On 14 Feb 1814, Alexander was promoted to Commander. Three days later he married Mary Magdalen Cartwright, daughter of Kingston merchant Richard Cartwright, and granddaughter of James Secord. The marriage was noted in the journal of Lieutenant John Le Couteur of the 104th Regiment of Foot:

Captain Henry Alexander Stewart Dobbs RN, a prime Sailor and Gentleman, having invited our rector, the Reverend Mr. Stuart to attend for the occasion, He was united in marriage to dear rattle, Mary Cartwright, the daughter of Colonel Cartwright ... at Eight o'clock this evening. The happy couple were to have gone to Montreal for their honeymoon but a rumour of an Attack coming to ear this morning ... no leave could be thought of.

On 4 May 1814, Yeo's squadron of eight vessels, 900 sailors, 400 marines, and an additional 550 soldiers weighed anchor and sailed for Oswego. The Battle of Fort Oswego on 6 May 1814 saw Charwell firing its long guns as it escorted the bateaux and gunboats towards the beach. The British captured the fort, and over two thousand barrels of flour, pork, salt, and ordnance stores were brought back to the ships offshore.

Storming Fort Oswego. Toronto Public Library

In June 1814, Dobbs was given command of HMS Star, a brig launched at Kingston on 20 July 1813. At the time of her launch she was christened HMS Lord Melville, but was renamed HMS Star in January 1814. Star measured 21.8 metres in length with a beam of 7.5 metres and a draught of 3.0 metres. The initial complement of 98 was composed of 60 officers and crew and 38 Royal Marines. When Dobbs assumed command, Star was armed with two 18-pounder long guns and twelve 32-pounder carronades.

In July, Commander Dobbs was placed in charge of a detachment sent to support the British Army in the Niagara Peninsula. The detachment, consisting of the Star, Charwell, Magnet, and Netley, ferried soldiers and supplies from York across Lake Ontario to Fort George and Fort Niagara.

Plan of the Mouth of the Niagara River.
Brock University Archives

Star arrived at York on 17 July and rendezvoused with Charwell which had arrived two days earlier. On the evening of 23 Jul 1814, the Star and Charwell sailed from York with a detachment of 400 officers and men from the 2nd Battalion, 89th Regiment of Foot. The next day, Netley, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Radcliffe, ferried Lieutenant General Drummond across to Niagara. Drummond would go on to command British forces at the Battle of Lundy's Lane and the Siege of Fort Erie.

On 3 Jul 1814, 3500 American soldiers commanded by Major General Jacob Brown crossed the Niagara River and captured Fort Erie, then advanced north and defeated the British at the Battle of Chippawa two days later. On 25 Jul 1814, during one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812, the British and Americans met again at the Battle of Lundy's Lane. Although the battle was a stalemate, the Americans, having suffered hundreds of casualties, withdrew back to Fort Erie.

Following the Battle of Lundy's Lane, Dobbs detachment carried wounded and prisoners from Niagara to York. Dobbs noted in a report to Commodore Yeo: "These brave fellows came out of the Hospitals, and requested me to carry them over to join their Gallant Comrades.”

On 5 Aug 1814, Magnet was intercepted by Chauncey's squadron while carrying munitions from York to Niagara. Her captain, Lieutenant George Hawkesworth, beached Magnet near Four Mile Creek to the west of the mouth of the Niagara River. Hawkeworth salvaged what he could, then destroyed Magnet and her remaining cargo in an explosion that was heard and felt in York, 48 kilometres across the lake. Having failed to capture Magnet, the Americans then blockaded Dobbs detachment in the mouth of the Niagara River.

Dobbs reported on the destruction of the Magnet in a letter to Commodore Yeo dated 7 Aug 1814:

I have the honor to inform you that the American Squadron made their appearance off this place yesterday.

The Charwell, Netley and Magnet Sailed from York on the 5th with Troops and Stores the two former got safe in her on the morning of the 6th but the Magnet being by some unfortunate circustance to leeward was obliged to run on Shore and on the approach of the American Squadron she was blown up by Lieutenant Hawksworth who reports to me that all the Stores were saved. I hope Sir you will not think that I have been their Guardian too long. The Situation of General Drummond's Army required some risque to be had for their Support.

Following the Battle of Lundy's Lane, General Drummond's forces slowly advanced on Fort Erie. The construction of siege lines and batteries began on 4 August but was hampered by fire from three American schooners anchored in the Niagara River: Ohio, Somers, and Porcupine. American forces had controlled Lake Erie for almost a year since the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 Sep 1813. With Drummond's approval, Dobbs devised a plan to board and capture the schooners.

Ohio, Somers, and Porcupine off Fort Erie

Seventy Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines portaged the Charwell's gig from Queenston to Chippewa, then headed overland with the gig and five batteau to a point on Lake Erie several kilometres west of the Niagara River. Shortly after midnight on 12 Aug 1814, Dobbs launched his boarding attack. A lookout on board Somers called a challenge. but the officer of the deck was fooled into believing that the British vessels were American provision boats. The Ohio and Somers were quickly captured. The captain of the Ohio reported, "that as their force was an overwhelming one, I thought further resistance vain & gave up the vessel with the satisfactionof having performed my duty and defended my vessel to the last."

Porcupine, meanwhile, cut its anchor cables and was able to escape. The American's suffered one killed and 70 captured, while the British suffered two killed and four wounded. One of the dead was Lieutenant Charles Ratcliffe, captain of the Netley, who was killed as he tried to scale the stern of the Ohio.

In his report to Commodore Yeo, Dobbs wrote:

Having succeeded in getting my gig and five Batteaux across from the Niagara River to Lake Erie, a distance of Eight Miles by land—I last night attacked the Three Enemy’s Schooners that had anchored close to Fort Erie—for the purpose of flanking the approaches to that fort.— Two of them were carried sword in hand in a few minutes, and the third would certainty have fallen—had the Cables not been cut, which made us drift to Leeward of her, among the Rapids— The schooners taken are the Ohio & Somers, Commanded by Lieutenants, and each mounting Three long twelve pounders, with a complement of 35 men each— My Gallant Friend Lieutenant Radcliffe and One Seaman fell in the act of boarding, which, with four wounded is our whole loss. The Enemy had One man killed and Seven wounded among the latter is Lieutenant Conklin commanding the Squadron as well as two of his Officers. The Steady and gallant conduct of the Officers, Seamen and Marines employed on this Service, was such as to have insured me success against a greater force—and has called forth a very handsome General order from His Honor Lieutenant General Drummond— I beg leave particularly to mention Mr. Grindred Mate of the Star—and Mr. Hyde, mate of the Charwell, not only for their gallant conduct in the Attack, but for their skill in bringing the Vessels, into this River, through Shoals, and Rapids, and under a constant and heavy fire—

Two days later, Dobbs volunteered to help recapture Fort Erie. His small detachment of marines and sailors were bolstered by reinforcements seemingly eager for action:

...the forty Seamen [were so anxious] to join use that they actually marched from Fort George to this place in one day, distance of 32 miles requesting the officers not to stop them on the road... General Drummond having determined to attack Fort Erie and having expressed a wish for the assistance of the (navy) instantly offered to lead them on the assault...

Lieutenant Le Couteur of the 104th Foot was not so eager. After an artillery barrage on the 13th did little damage he wrote:

[The fort] was an ugly Customer for fifteen hundred men to attack Six thousand, it was said, placed behind breastworks and ramparts, with guns and a blockhouse bristling in every direction. The fort was of irregular form, with demi-bastions that flanked the ditches. The faces were of earth, but the embrasures seemed to me to be of masonry — at any rate our fire, instead of affecting a breach, seemed to me and others to ran the earth harder.

General Drummond planned a three-pronged attack to take place in the early hours of August 15. Dobbs and his men were assigned to the column commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Drummond of the 104th Regiment of Foot. The column, composed the flank companies of the 104th Foot and the 41st Foot, a detachment of Royal Artillery, and Dobbs's sailors and marines, was tasked with assaulting the northeast bastion.

Map showing Fort Erie and the British siege lines. The
northeast bastion is on the right side of the star fort.

Lieutenant Colonel's Drummond's column penetrated the abatis surrounding the fort and entered the ditch, then used scaling ladders to climb into the bastion. The attackers then tried to charge through a two metre wide gap between the bastion and a stone barrack block, but were driven back by American fire. A second attempt also failed. At some point Drummond was killed. American attempts to retake the bastion were also futile.

When American artillery began firing at the bastion, the British artillery detachment turned one of the captured guns in the bastion about and returned fire. Seconds after their second shot, a massive explosion destroyed the entire bastion and much of the adjacent barracks block. It is believed that sparks or burning debris from the muzzle flash may have fallen through cracks in the wooden floor of the bastion and ignited the powder magazine below. British casualties were extensive.

Repulsion of the British at Fort Erie
by E. C. Watmough, 1840

Numerous sailors and marines in Dobbs detachment were killed, while Dobbs himself was wounded. Overall the British suffered 905 casualties in the failed assault. Le Couteur wrote of men "roasted, mangled, burned, wounded, black, hideous to view." General Drummond in his report to Governor-in-Chief Sir George Prevost wrote, "Our loss has been severe in killed and wounded; and I am sorry to add that almost all those returned 'missing' may be considered as wounded or killed by the explosion and left in the hands of the enemy."

Dobbs provided more details in his report to Commodore Yeo:

... and were soon in the thick of it. I was knocked down close the the Fort, and never got into it but the brave Officers and Men under my Command most Nobly did, and never left it till an explosion took place which drove all out, and an Order was given to Retreat. Our losses have been very severe: ten Seamen and eleven Marines killed, fifteen Seamen and eighteen Marines Wounded and Missing. I fear a number of the latter were blown up. Lieut. Stevenson, Mr. Harris Master and myself were wounded. Mr. Hinde, Masters Mate, had his thigh broke and was left in the ditch where I fear he must have perished. If there is any inaccuracy in this I trust you will excuse it, as my head aches so intolerably I can scarce hold it up.

In his reply, Commodore Yeo informed Dobbs that he, “does not wish the Seamen and Marines under your command to be employed in any general attack of the army unless under very particular circumstances."

Drummond lifted the siege on September 21 and the British withdrew to the Chippewa River. A few weeks later Lieutenant Le Couteur made this entry in his journal:

... walked to the Heights among the Chestnut woods, and felled a tree to get at the chestnuts which we gathered in plenty at the expense of our fingers, to send Capt. Dobbs, RN, who declared if we did not send Him a bag full, He would not give us passage to Kingston.

Dobbs apparently got his chestnuts as he invited Le Couteur to dinner at his father-in-law's in Kingston on October 28.

On October 20, the American blockade of the mouth of the Niagara River had ended with the arrival of larger ships of Yeo's squadron. This included Yeo's new flagship, the 112-gun first rate HMS St Lawrence. After ferrying reinforcements and supplies ashore, Dobbs returned to Kingston with the Star, Charwell, and Netley. Dobbs made two additional runs to Niagara that fall, finally returning to Kingston on December 9.

The American's abandoned Fort Erie on November 5 and retired back across the Niagara River.

The War of 1812 ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on 24 Dec 1814 but it took several weeks for news of the peace to reach Upper Canada. In late December, Dobbs was given command of the Royal Navy station at Ile aux Noix on the Richelieu River south of Montreal, however, once it became known that the war was over he was transferred to Quebec and became the Royal Navy's agent for transports.

Little is known about Dobbs career following the war. On 4 June 1815, he was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, and on 12 Aug 1819 he was promoted to the rank of Captain.

Dobbs died at Milan, Lombardy in 1827. His will, dated, 15 Feb 1827 and proved 8 Aug 1828, shows that at the time of his death he was on half-pay, owned property in Canada, and was "late of Torquay in the County of Devon."

Mary Cartwright likely returned to Kingston after Alexander's death where she died on 4 Jan 1839. Alexander and Mary had no children.

Sources:

Armstrong, Benjamin. "Daring Moves on the Niagara. Naval History Magazine, Volume 27, Number 5 (September 2013).

Cruickshank, Ernest. The Siege of Fort Erie. Welland, Ontario: Lundy's Lane Historical Society, 1905 http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/BUA/BUA0027064871T.PDF

Graves, Donald E. "William Drummond and the Battle of Fort Erie," Canadian Military History, Vol. 1., Iss. I, Article 4. https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol1/iss1/4/

Le Couteur, John (1994). Merry Hearts Make Light Days: The War of 1812 Journal of Lieutenant John Le Couteur, 104th Foot. Donald E. Graves, Editor. Ottawa: Carleton University Press

Malcolmson, Robert. Lords of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 1998.

Malcolmson, Robert. "Dobbs and the Royal Navy at Niagara." Fortress Niagara. Issue 1 (June 2000)

Marshall, John. "Alexander Dobbs, Esq." Royal Naval Biography, Vol. 1. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1823.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Biography/Dobbs,_Alexander

Crawford, Michael J. (Ed.). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 3. Washington: Naval Historical Center. 2002. p. 588-9.

Williamson, Robert. "The Burlington Races Revisited: An Analysis of an 1813 Naval Battle for Supremacy on Lake Ontario." Canadian Military History, Vol. 8, Issue 4. https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1271&context=cmh