having at their late meeting authorized the drawing out from the militia into actual service a number not to exceed 1500 men for the further defence of the State, I shall be happy in the continuation of your services in the command of one of the corps to be formed from such levies and the more especially as it will probably be stationed in the district of your present command, where I have the pleasure to observe your past conduct has afforded the most perfect satisfaction.
He informed Willett that the New Hampshire Continental regiments would continue in the north and thought it may not be necessary to raise new troops before the opening of the spring, but it would be essential to “make every preparatory arrangement so that the Levies could be embodied and ready to take the field the moment the frontier settlements become accessible to the enemy and the more expecially as that period it is probable the regular regiments may be withdrawn.”
Clinton asked Willett to prepare a list of officers who would be willing to serve in the new regiment. He foresaw that some crisis might arise during the winter that would require a body of militia to repel the enemy and, as it was of importance that an experienced officer acquainted with the frontier country should be available to take charge of any detachments called into service, he asked Willett to accept this responsibility in Tryon County. The colonel was to collect regimental returns from Tryon’s commanders and forward them with recommendations how they might be made more effective. Clinton agreed with the earlier suggestion about acquiring snowshoes, trusting that a small quantity would cost little.
He reported that a small company of three-years’ men under the command of Captain Job Wright should be assigned to a Mohawk Valley post most conducive to the public service. Willett was to appoint one, or two if necessary, of the subalterns to Wright’s company who had enlisted the greatest number of men.18
Stark replied to Colonel Yates’s letter about the Sancoick unrest: “the insurrection you mention must be the result of folly & madness[. Y]ou will be very cautious not to begin hostilities … but stand your ground and act defensively till reinforced.” He reported that both Albany County brigades were being called out and that he was “ready to march the whole garrison when occasion may require of which you will please give me the earliest intelligence.”19
In an express letter to a State justice, the governor reported the insurrection in Albany County’s first brigade (Sancoick), advising that “conformable to the law,” Brigadier Gansevoort had called out militia units to quell the insurgents. Although he approved of this action, it was his earnest wish, “consistent with my duty & the immediate safety of the State, that offences of this kind, should be referred to the cognizance of the civil authority.” In consequence, he had sent an individual, who had been captured by the insurgents and had personal “knowledge of their proceedings, to wait on you, that you may take his examination on the subject…. Should you conceive it proper to issue warrants against them … I will chearfuly afford the officers to whom they shall be directed, every assistance in the execution of them which may be required and consistent with my duty to grant.”
Clinton then warned Brigadier Robert Van Rensselaer, commander of Albany County’s second brigade, about the Sancoick affair and instructed him to give such aid to Gansevoort “as shall be necessary.” Then, he wrote to the latter advising that none of the recent resolutions of the legislature related to the Grants pertained to problems such as the insurrection. He approved of his actions and added that, if the force already in motion was insufficient, he should call on the second brigade for assistance.20
A reader’s letter to a Quebec newspaper of December 6 revealed much about local attitudes regarding smallpox by reacting to the intention of “a Surgeon of Eminence in this City” to inoculate two children with imported pox as an experiment. The writer agreed that, while the procedure had proven effective in Europe, “Here the malady prevaileth not naturally and thousands of grown Persons have never had the infection. It [the doctor’s sample] is now arrived from 3,000 miles distance; it is taken from we know not what Subject, and is sent by, we know not whom.” A most contentious issue indeed!21
Quebec City’s lower town.
On December 10, Mathews informed Robert Leake that Haldimand was unable to give him seniority in the (Provincial) Line over Thomas Gumersall, as the latter’s commission as captain-lieutenant was dated March 9, 1778. Although Leake had served as a captain under Burgoyne in 1777, his rank had not been confirmed until he took command of an independent company on May 23, 1779. This disappointment was offset by the news that the governor held the power to decide about seniority within a regiment, “and without intending the least Injury to Captain Gumersal His Excellency thought your Services and your Losses entitled You to the Preference — in all matters relating to the corps, you will of course command as senior captain — in the Line, Capt Gumersal must take Rank from his former Commission.”
Due to the amalgamation of so many different corps, seniority of rank in Jessup’s new battalion was a far more complex issue than within the Royal Yorkers. No doubt, the final outcomes brought many disappointments. Ignoring the two reduced lieutenant-colonels who were listed as captains on a December 10 return, the other captains were listed in order of seniority and had seen service in the following corps: 1. Justus Sherwood, Secret Service and Peters’s Queen’s Loyal Rangers; 2. Jonathon Jones, Jessup’s King’s Loyal Americans; 3. William Fraser, Fraser’s Independent Company and McAlpin’s; 4. John Jones, a deputy barrackmaster under Burgoyne and at Sorel; and 5. Peter Drummond, Drummond’s Independent Company and McAlpin’s.
Of the lieutenants, there were: 1. Henry Simmons, Peters’s; 2. Thomas Fraser, Fraser’s Independent Company and McAlpin’s; 3. David Jones, Secret Service and Jessup’s; 4. James Parrot, Secret Service and Peters’s; 5. Alexander Campbell, McAlpin’s; 6. David McFall, Peters’s; 7. John Dulmage, Secret Service and the Loyal Volunteers; and 8. Gideon Adams, Drummond’s Independent Company and McAlpin’s. Variegated indeed!22
Another patronage appointment in Butler’s Rangers was announced in General Orders at Quebec City on December 11 when Charles Godefroy de Tonnancoeur, Gentleman, was appointed a second lieutenant. The name Godefroy de Tonnancoeur ranked high amongst the provincial noblesse. Charles’s father was a committed supporter of the king’s government and the son had seen service in the defence of Fort St. John’s in 1775 and as an ensign under Captain David Monin with Burgoyne in 1777. With his connections, his native tongue, and his military experience, he would have proven most useful to the Rangers, but there is no evidence that he ever served on the frontiers.23
In a letter of December 12 to General Heath, Stark revealed new information about the Sancoick riot. He had sent a request to Bennington for particulars and was informed that it was Captain John Abbot, a former 14ACM company commander, and a number of his followers who had seized Colonel Van Rensselaer and others in a public house. As earlier reported, the insurgents had roughly used their captives, took them to Bennington, and called upon the magistrates to arrest them in “a legal manner.” The rest of the story was as previously reported.
When the insurgents discovered Gansevoort’s troops on the march, they collected their
