Part 36 (1/2)
”I have the honor to be, with respect, Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
MICH. FRANCKLIN.”
The hint contained in the last paragraph of Francklin's letter evidently was not lost upon Sir Guy Carleton, for later on, deputies from the Ottawas, Hurons, Algonquins, and other nations of Canada arrived at the River St. John and ordered the Micmacs and Maliseets to withdraw from the Americans and to remain quiet otherwise they would declare war against them. Upon receipt of this message, Francklin says, the Indians almost universally withdrew from Machias and remained tranquil to the close of the war. But this is antic.i.p.ating the course of events.
Michael Francklin, though a native of the South of England, was admirably fitted for the position of superintendent of Indian affairs in Nova Scotia. He was at one time a captive with the Indians and had learned their language and customs. He was also conversant with the French tongue and this gave him still greater influence.
Unfortunately for the settlers at the mouth of the river a garrison was not left there for their protection by Francklin and Studholme, and as soon as the English s.h.i.+ps departed Portland and Conway were as defenceless as ever. Privateers again appeared. The people were robbed and maltreated so that many were compelled to abandon their homes and seek refuge up the river.
Late in the autumn of this year an American sloop carrying eight guns entered St. John Harbor. Her captain, who bore the singular name A.
Greene Crabtree, proved the most unwelcome and rapacious visitor that had yet appeared. Many of the settlers fled to the woods to escape the vandalism of his crew. From the store at Portland Point 21 boat loads of goods were taken. The plunder included a lot of silver ornaments, fuzees and other articles left by the Indians as pledges for their debts.[105]
[105] Some of the Indian pledges were valuable. Wm. Hazen says that among the articles that escaped the notice of the privateers-men on this occasion were eight silver arm clasps, two of which he afterwards sold for 4.
John Allan seems to have had doubts as to whether this kind of thing came within the pale of civilized warfare, for in a letter written at Machias, November 18, 1777, he says:
”Capt. A. Greene Crabtree arrived here yesterday. He has been to the mouth of the St. John's where he found a Truck House erected by the Britons under the care of Messrs. Hazen, White and Simonds.
He took everything of their property only. Also all the Indian Pledges he has bro't and delivered me, expecting some payment. I cannot say how far this was legal for a Privateer, but I am extremely glad it is done.”
The situation at the mouth of the St. John had now become intolerable; the inhabitants were well nigh beggared and the end of their trials apparently had not yet been reached. William Hazen therefore proceeded to Windsor and urgently demanded protection. Col. Small, of the Royal Highland Emigrants, went with him to Halifax and by their united efforts the authorities were convinced of the necessity for immediate action. A considerable body of troops was ordered to St.
John with directions to either repair Fort Frederick or to build a new fort as might seem most desirable. General Ma.s.sey's choice of Gilfred Studholme as commander of the expedition was a wise one. He was not only a brave and capable officer but his former experience as commander of the Fort Frederick garrison, and his intimate knowledge of the River St. John and its inhabitants--Whites and Indians--rendered him peculiarly fitted for the task to which he was appointed.
We come now to consider the circ.u.mstances under which Fort Howe was built.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FORT HOWE IN 1781]
Lieut.-Governor Arbuthnot wrote to the Secretary of State, Lord George Germaine, on the 11th October, 1777, that in consequence of frequent attacks on the settlements on the St. John river by the Machias rebels he had requested Brig.-Gen. Ma.s.sey to establish a fortified post at the mouth of that river with a garrison of fifty men; this with the aid of a British frigate he thought would secure the inhabitants from further molestation, and prevent the Americans from occupying the post, an object they had long coveted. In the latter part of November, Brigade Major Studholme was sent to St. John with fifty picked men, a framed block-house and four six-pounders. The small force was brought in a sloop of war, which remained in the harbor for their protection till the next spring.
Studholme at first thought of restoring Fort Frederick, which the rebels had burned the year before, but in the end it was decided to erect a new fortification on the commanding site since known as Fort Howe. The lateness of the season rendered it necessary for the garrison to lose no time. They set to work vigorously and with the a.s.sistance of the inhabitants erected the blockhouses, threw up the necessary defences, and were in snug winter quarters ere the cold weather set in.
The accompanying ill.u.s.tration is taken from a sketch of Fort Howe in 1781 by Capt. Benjamin Marston on board his vessel the ”Brittania”, which was then lying at anchor in the harbor; the original is believed to be the only representation of Fort Howe before the arrival of the Loyalists that is in existence.
Colonel Robert Morse of the Royal Engineers thus describes the fort as he saw it in 1783:--
”This little work was erected in the course of the late war in preference to repairing a small square fort thrown up during the former war [Fort Frederick] the position of the latter being low and commanded, and not so well situated for the protection of the houses built in the cod of the bay, where two or three persons lived of a company to whom a large tract of land had been granted and who carried on a considerable trade with the Indians and persons settled up the river. The ridge upon which the new fort stands was offered by them and a work in which there are eight pieces of cannon, barracks for 100 men, and a small block-house was accordingly erected, together with a larger block-house at the other end of the ridge. The block-houses remain, but the work, which was composed of fascines and sods, is falling down, and the ridge on which it stands is too narrow to admit of any useful works being constructed upon it.”
The armament of Fort Howe, according to Col. Morse, consisted of 2 five and a half inch bra.s.s mortars, and 8 iron guns; the latter comprising 2 eighteen-pounders, 4 six-pounders, and 2 four-pounders.
In the barracks were twelve rooms for the officers and accommodation for 100 men.
The guns of Fort Howe would be no better than pop-guns in modern warfare. Indeed they appear never to have been fired upon an invader.
On Royal anniversaries and in honor of national victories they thundered forth a salute from their iron throats, and we may believe that on the ever memorable 18th of May, 1783, they gave a right royal welcome to the Loyalist founders of the City of St. John.
Scarcely had Major Studholme got his defences in order at Fort Howe, when the old Machias pirate, A. Greene Crabtree, reappeared upon the scene. He had disposed of his former booty and returned to complete the work of destruction. In order to accomplish his design he landed a party from his eight-gun vessel at Manawagonish, and proceeded through the woods intending to surprise the settlement at Portland Point; but in this case the surprise was his own. The sight of the British flag waving from the ramparts of Fort Howe was quite sufficient; he showed no inclination to try the mettle of Studholme's garrison, and beat a hasty retreat.
General Ma.s.sey, who had sent Studholme's party to St. John, was of the opinion that a rigorous policy should be set on foot against the privateers, and in a letter to Lord Germaine laments that Arbuthnot did not command the naval squadron. ”If he did,” he says, ”these trifling pirates could not appear on the coast without meeting their deserved fate.” In the course of the next summer Captain Fielding succeeded in destroying six privateers in the s.p.a.ce of three weeks time, and this served to render the Bay of Fundy coast a little more secure. But already much damage had been inflicted. In the towns.h.i.+p of Conway, on the west side of St. John harbor, the settlers had been obliged to abandon their homes. Daniel and Jonathan Leavitt built small houses in Carleton near old Fort Frederick, where they were under the protection of Fort Howe. Messrs. Samuel Peabody, Gervas Say, Elijah Estabrooks, James Woodman, Thomas Jenkins, Zebedee Ring, John Bradley, John Jones and Peter Smith were so harra.s.sed ”by the continual robberies of the Rebel boats” that they were compelled to move up the river to escape the dangers of their exposed situation.
James Simonds also decided to change his residence at this time, and in the month of May (1778) he removed his effects and placed them on board a small vessel, lying above the falls, and with his family proceeded sixty miles up the river to a tract of land in the parish of Sheffield, which he had purchased of Charles Morris. The property comprised about 2,000 acres, but at the time of Mr. Simonds' arrival not a single tree had been cut upon it. He built a small log house on the bank of the river just above Loder's Creek as a shelter for his young and helpless family, and here they were destined to spend the next nine years of their lives. He left to Lemuel Cleveland the care of his house at Portland Point, and leased all his lands and buildings at the mouth of the river to Major Studholme for 60 per annum.
The presence of the garrison at Fort Howe did not entirely prevent the Machias marauders from interfering with the loyal inhabitants of St.
John, and Messrs. Hazen and White arranged with John Curry of Campobello to give them warning whenever possible of any danger that might threaten from the direction of Machias.