Saturday 2 December 2023

Drums Along the Mohawk audible

 Just finished the audible version of Drums Along the Mohawk. Started it on the 16 of August. Had a bit each day with our meal. Definitely a good story much better than the film. 


Wednesday 29 November 2023

Thursday 9 November 2023

Joseph Brant by Don Troiani

 

"New commissioned watercolor/Gouache of the great Mohawk leader Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea  The figure is mostly based on a period description of him.  There are a good number of paintings of him and his facial characteristics and skin tones vary widely in each. I went mostly with the earlier portraits .To read more about him ." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brant


Prints  available from W. Britain   https://www.wbritain.com/product-store/joseph-brant?fbclid=IwAR0acZADdQrPuQTlo2ol8fFpcIIU_emyzR0qBDHu36D4yWb0kBH-ifZqNLA

Wednesday 8 November 2023

Indian War Chief

 Indian War chief completely equipped with a scalp in his hand
by George Townshend, 4th Viscount and 1st Marquess Townshend
pen and ink 1751-58


Image from 1769

 Image from here. I think this is a really interesting picture.


Saturday 4 November 2023

Friday 27 October 2023

Gâtinois

 Good news if you are in the U.K. A French unit for the American Revolution is being formed. Rory Martello is the man to contact and Gatinois is the regiment he is recreating.

Picture from here where there is more on the regiment.

Butler's Ranger by Claus' Rangers

 


Saturday 30 September 2023

Shadows on the Longhouse fiction


 This paperback I read about 25 years ago. In the western section at my library. It is part of a series of novels ranging from the F&I to Pontiac and on to the Revwar which is this one. It is packaged like a western paperback. You can pick up a copy for a few quid on ebay.

The cost of Indians

 


Excerpt from the book on Indian warfare.

Lee, Wayne E. The Cutting-Off Way: Indigenous Warfare in Eastern North America, 1500-1800. (Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press, 2023),177. See here

Native Americans contributed materially to the British war effort, but their help proved expensive. Indian Agent John Stuart argued that despite high costs “we have not been able to do it without them,” and indeed the numbers could be impressive: in the first ten months of 1781 some seventy-five war parties totaling almost 3,000 warriors set out from Fort Niagara. But the situation at Niagara illustrates the difficulties of balancing costs and effectiveness. After the rebels' 1779 campaign into Iroquois country, Niagara became a refugee center with approximately 5,000 Indians camped in the area all demanding provisions. Costs for maintaining the women, children, and some warriors ballooned to £100,000 in 1781. Bruce Wilson calculates that the cost of "provisioning the Indians at the three major upper forts, Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinac, reportedly exceeded the cost of the whole military establishment in Canada exclusive of provisions.” In contrast, during the French and Indian War Lord Loudoun's staff calculated that a regiment of 1,000 colonial rangers cost £42,400 in its first year of operations, slightly less thereafter, a cost considered exorbitant at the time. British General John Burgoyne claimed, with some exaggeration, that 1,000 Indian warriors cost more than 20,000 regulars. Thus, although the British had a potentially large pool of motivated Indian allies, they needed substantial resources to keep them, and frequently their dependents, on task. The Seminoles in Florida arrived in large numbers to assist the British, but lack of resources obliged British officials to turn them away. East Florida's governor, Patrick Tonyn, complained that he remained powerless without an ability to supply the Seminoles, leaving him "invested with the mere shadow of authority.”


Thursday 28 September 2023

Fort Ti (1953)

 


Full movie here. This was shown by the BBC in the 80s as part of their 3D night. It's not a great movie. Wiki

Tuesday 26 September 2023

Hadden's journal and orderly books : a journal kept in Canada and upon Burgoyne's campaign in 1776 and 1777Bookreader Item Preview Appendix No. 7. 429 345. 34M. p. P. 54.0. 3SM. p. p. 333, 334, note. a^D. K. K. 346, 327. 37M. P. P. 352, 541. s^D. Z. Z. 771. »M. X. 2-5. ""B. K : B. L.] NO. T. Sir Guy Carleton, Afterwards Lord Dorchester. The family of Carleton is very old. Guy Carleton was the third son of Christopher Carleton, of Newry, County Down, Ireland, by his wife, Catherine, daughter of Henry Ball, and was born at Strabane, Ireland, Sept. 3, 1724.* He began his military career in the Guards at an early age, and was promoted to a lieutenancy in the First Foot Guards July 22, 1751, and to a captain-lieutenancy therein June 18, 1757; which last promotion gave him the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army," In the campaign in Germany in 1757, he acted as aid to the Duke of Cumberland^ ; and in 1758 he embarked with Gen. Amherst for the siege of Louisbourg, where his active exertions obtained him considerable credit. ^ On the 24th of August, 1758, he was made the lieut. -colonel of the 72d Foot."* The next year, when Gen. Wolfe was officering his expedition against Quebec, he selected Lieut. -Colonel Carleton for his quarter master general ; but as this officer had given offence to the king, the appointment was secured only through the persistence of the Earl of Chatham, then Mr. Pitt. The anecdote is told at length in Beatson's Naval and 43 o Appendix No. 7. Military Memoirs, vol. iii, 226, note 142. At the same time Lieut. -Colonel Carleton was likewise appointed a colonel in America only.^ On Wolfe's expedition he rendered important services and was singled out as a proper officer to be detached with an adequate force to secure a post on the western point of the Isle d'Orleans, a service which he effectually performed. Sometime after he was again detached to dislodge the French from Point au Trempe, twenty miles distant from Quebec, where he was equally successfuls ; and at the battle on the Heights of Abraham, Sept. 13, 1759, he was wounded, receiving a ball in the head, which, it was feared, had fractured his skull. ^ He took part in the battle of St. Foy, April 28, 1760, and continued to serve in Canada for some time under Gen. Murray. 7 On the expedition against Belle Isle, on the coast of France, he acted as one of the brigadier generals ; and Gen. Hodgson, who commanded, gave him flattering mention in the official dispatches. 4 Feb. 19, 1762, he became a colonel in the army^' ; and he soon after embarked for the siege of Havannah, in which expedition he acted as the quarter master general of the British force under the Earl of Albemarle.^ On the loth of the following June he was detached from the camp into the woods between Coximar and the Moro, with a body of light infantry and grenadiers, and on the nth he carried the Spanish redoubt upon Moro Hill, estriblishing a post there. His success cost him a wound, for which, however, the brilliant reputation and the ample share of prize money he gained were doubtless sufficient compensation.'' In 1763, he was commissioned as the colonel of the 93d Foot, but soon after the peace of that year his regiment was reduced and he went upon (549 of 710) Favorite Share Flag textsHadden's journal and orderly books : a journal kept in Canada and upon Burgoyne's campaign in 1776 and 1777

 

Monday 25 September 2023

His Majesty's Loyalists and Indian allies

 

Military - British Army - H... by The 18th Century Material C...

Scalping

 


 Saint-Sauveur (France, 1757-1810), Labrousse (France, Bordeaux, active late 18th century)Title Costumes de Différents Pays, 'Guerrier Iroquois'Description English:France, circa 1797Prints; engravingsHand-tinted engraving on paper


From With Burgoyne From Quebec.

Scalping

 "Whenever they scalp, the seize the head of the disabled or dead enemy, and placing one of their feet on the neck, twist their left hand in the hair, by which means they extend the skin that covers the top of the head, and with the other hand draw their scalping knife from their breast, which is always kept in good order for this cruel purpose, a few dextrous strokes of which takes off the part that is termed the scalp; they are so exceedingly expeditious in doing this, that it scarcely exceeds a minute. If the hair is short, and they have no purchase with their hand, they stoop, and with their teeth strip it off; when they performed this part of their martial virtue as soon as time permits, they tie with bark or deer sinews their speaking trophies of blood in a small hoop, to preserve it from stupefaction, painting part of the scalp and the hoop all round with red. These they preserve as monuments of their prowess, and at the same time as proofs of the vengeance they have inflicted on their enemies."

Thursday 21 September 2023

Roger Lamb's American Revolution

 

Looks good. Blurb reads

Of all the British soldiers who served in North America during the American Revolution, none wrote more about his experiences than Roger Lamb. He certainly had a lot to say: his service in two of the most important campaigns—the 1777 Saratoga campaign and the 1781 campaign through the Carolinas to Virginia—put him in the thick of some of the war’s most famous battles. Moreover, he was twice captured and twice escaped, making his way through hostile territory to rejoin the British army. Later in his life he wrote two books chronicling these experiences in great detail. Hundreds of British soldiers went through similar ordeals, sharing in the campaigns, the battles, the captivities, the escapes, but none recounted any aspect of these activities in the level of detail that Lamb did.
The first edition of this book, published in 2004, combined all of Roger Lamb’s first-hand recollections from his two books, 
An Original and Authentic Journal of Occurrences during the late American War, from its Commencement to the Year 1783 (Dublin, 1809) and Memoir of his Own Life (Dublin, 1811). Since that publication, two more important documents written by Lamb have come to light—an intelligence report written in 1782 recounting details of one of his escapes, and a “commonplace book” kept later in his life to record a vast range of memories, thoughts, and observations. Roger Lamb’s American Revolution: A British Soldier’s Story combines all of the material from these four sources pertaining to Lamb’s career as a soldier, from the time he joined the army to his departure from it, plus his recollections of childhood and post-military life. The result is the most comprehensive first-hand account by a British soldier in the American Revolution, an essential record for understanding the war in its totality.

Tuesday 19 September 2023

Forthcoming book of interest

 "Our new book is available to preorder. It will be out in early December. Share the link with anyone that might be interested:"

https://www.manitoufreetraderspress.com/shop




Koohassen, guerrier de la nation Onéida 1801

 


Two drawings from 1764

 

Benjamin West 1764. A Conference held between some Indian Chiefs and Colonel Bouquet, in the Year 1764
The Indians returning English captives to Colonel Henry Bouquet in November 1764.


Monday 18 September 2023

Blockhouse From With Burgoyne From Quebec

 


 


The War Whoop

Got the book With Burgoyne from Quebec from the library which is a series of letters by Thomas Anburey an officer in Burgoyne's army. This is part of a series of recollections of Mohawk indians.
I am interrupted by the cries of some Indians who are setting up the war whoop, on their bringing in prisoners.
'When they arrive, as they imagine, in hearing of the camp, they set up the war whoop, as many times as they have number of prisoners. It is difficult to describe..... and the best idea I can convey is that it consists in the sound of whoo whoo whoop! which is continued till the breath is almost exhausted, and then broken off with a sudden elevation of voice: some of them modulate it into notes, by placing the hand before the mouth, but both are heard at a great distance.'


Sunday 10 September 2023

Led Canadians during the Saratoga campaign.

 

BOUCHER DE BOUCHERVILLE, RENÉ-AMABLE, army and militia officer, seigneur, office holder, and politician; b. 12 Feb. 1735 at Fort Frontenac (Kingston, Ont.), son of Pierre Boucher* de Boucherville, an officer in the colonial regular troops, and Marguerite Raimbault; d. 31 Aug. 1812 in Boucherville, Lower Canada.

From here where there is a biography

See here and here

Butler's Rangers private 1780-1782 Don Troiani

 Print from here


The Story of Butler's Rangers E. Cruikshank.

 This book from 1893 is available to read free if you have an interest. Here is a sample bit on the formation of Butler's Rangers.

https://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/cruikshank-butlers/cruikshank-butlers-00-h-dir/cruikshank-butlers-00-h.html

Butler went to Quebec to settle his accounts, taking with him three of the principal chiefs to present them to the Governor. He then renewed his proposal to raise a battalion of rangers to serve with the Indians, to which Sir Guy Carleton readily consented, and furnished him with “beating orders” for the enlistment of eight companies, each composed of a captain, a lieutenant, three sergeants, three corporals, and fifty privates. Two of these companies were to be formed of “people speaking the Indian language and acquainted with their customs and manner of making war,” and were to receive four shillings, New York currency, a day. The remaining companies, “to be composed of people well acquainted with the woods, in consideration of the fateague they are liable to undergo,” were to receive two shillings a day. The whole were required to clothe and arm themselves entirely at their own expense. This was considered extremely [38]high pay, and it was subsequently estimated by General Haldimand that these eight companies of rangers cost the Government as much as twenty companies of regular infantry.



 From The Burning of the Valleys G. K. Watt

Putman observed the Indians’ methods of setting the fires, “. . . one of the party . . . after swinging a fire-brand several times over his head until it blazed, applied it to the well-filled barns which were soon in flames . . . several of the party fired their guns into a number of stacks and barracks of grain . . .”

Image from John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk


Friday 8 September 2023

French account of the Battle of Lake George 1755

 Here

French forces at Lake George from the Fort William Henry Osprey

King's Royal Regiment of New York


 King's Royal Regiment of New York by Don Troiani. This is apparently how they appeared at the investment of Fort Stanwix and the Battle of Oriskany. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Royal_Regiment_of_New_York

Today's anniversary Lake George 1755

 Wiki


From Kronoskaf - order of battle Lake George 1755L

Order of Battle

British Order of Battle

Commander: Major-General William Johnson


Provincial (2,932 effective men as per the returns of August 17, 18 and 19)

1st Massachusetts Provincials (about 450 men) under Colonel Timothy Ruggles

2nd Massachusetts Provincials (about 450 men) under Colonel Moses Titcomb

3rd Massachusetts Provincials (about 450 men) under Colonel Ephraim Williams

1st Connecticut Provincials (about 450 men) under Major-General Lyman

2nd Connecticut Provincials (about 450 men) under Lieutenant-Colonel Whiting

Rhode Island Provincials (about 250 men) under Lieutenant-Colonel Cole

New York Provincials (3 coys from Connecticut totaling about 200 men) many settlers in upstate New York came from Connecticut

Mohawk Indians (about 250 men)


French Order of Battle

Commander: Baron Ludwig August Dieskau seconded by M. de Montreuil


French regulars (220 men)

Languedoc Infanterie (2 coys)

La Reine Infanterie (2 coys)

Troupes de la Marine (12 men)

Milices Canadiennes (684 men)

Resident Indians (678 men) aka Mission Indians

Sunday 3 September 2023

Herbert Knötel

 Did some good studies of Provincials. His Ranger studies are a bit rubbish. Wiki

I think these images are from Anne S. K. Brown.