Buckskin Pimpernel

by Mary Beacock Fryer

  In spite of these worries and irritations, Justus' spirits were soaring. To the devil with St. Leger. The war was as good as over. A scout brought him a gold mine — a revealing packet of letters on their way to the Continental Congress that had been intercepted by Dr. George Smyth's agents around Albany.16 One was an extract of a letter Haldimand had sent Sir Henry Clinton, originally in cypher, dated February 28, 1781, in which he admitted that a ‘Staunch friend in Albany’ had warned him against the people of Vermont. That sort of warning was to be expected, Justus knew, but it was the other letters that excited him. One told of a scheme to unite the New Hampshire counties of Cheshire and Grafton with Vermont, because the local people envied the republic's neutrality. Another warned the Congress of the danger that individual states might make separate arrangements with Britain. Also, deserters from the Continental Army, malcontents and loyalists were flocking into Vermont. The Congress should admit Vermont without delay, lest others follow her example and the war collapse completely. Neutrality was having a beneficial effect on his cause. The northern states were ready to sue for peace, and from reports reaching Isle aux Noix, the British army was doing well in the south.

  Justus went about his duties with a new air of confidence. Haldimand was also pushing recruiting to fill the ranks of the below strength provincial units, and men on the temporary list were no longer regarded as the property of the Central Department. In spite of Haldimand's requests for reinforcements to Lord George Germain, he had received only a few fresh regulars. Since Haldimand mistrusted loyalists less than Canadians, he was increasing his provincial force. He was offering a bounty of twenty-two shillings and sixpence for each new recruit, money that volunteers like Samuel Sherwood were holding out as inducements.17

  While Justus remained at Isle aux Noix, Lieutenant John Dulmage took the company to Yamaska to rebuild an old blockhouse which would guard the route into Canada by way of the Yamaska River.18 With Samuel's help Justus thought he would have a full company by the end of the year. He prayed that Colonel Peters was having as much luck in filling the other companies. Under the latest regulation, if the regiment could be brought up to strength, officers were entitled to half pay when the corps was reduced, and any who were maimed in the lime of duty would receive compensation.19 Not even word of the latest piece of Vermont skullduggery could daunt Justus.

  Although Governor Chittenden had stopped confiscating loyalist property, his government had passed an Absentee Act which imposed a special tax. Any landowner not in residence to pay it could have his property forfeit to the state.20 Justus' remaining land was safe because Simon Bothum was on the spot, looking after his brother-in-law's interests. In spite of the Absentee Act, Vermont was offering sanctuary to loyalists. For this reason alone, negotiating with Ira Allen and Joseph Fay was worthwhile, if only they would come to Isle aux Noix.

  Tired of waiting for them, Justus returned to Fort St. Johns to spend some time with his family. At his house, a dispatch marked top secret was delivered from Captain Mathews. Governor Haldimand had appointed Major Richard Lernoult, his adjutant-general, as Sherwood's assistant in the Vermont negotiations. Major Dundas was to be excluded, except where prisoner exchanges were involved. However, Dundas was to read all correspondence leaving Isle aux Noix.21

  On May 8, Dundas informed Justus that Ira Allen had arrived at his post. Justus hurried to Major Lernoult's quarters, but found him ill and unfit to accompany him. Later in the day he left alone by bateau from Fort St. Johns.22 At Isle aux Noix Justus reported that Ira was accompanied by an oaf named Lieutenant Simeon Lyman. Ira was remarkably circumspect, even for him, Lyman a plagued nuisance:

  M. Allen has brought a subaltern officer with him, who is not connected with the Business of the Truce; but has the Charge of the Escort – He is quartered in the Same room with Allen and myself and being a downright Illiterate Zealous-pated Yankee, is a very great embarrassment, especially as Allen is very cautious not to mention a syllable of any kind of Business in his presence; When we walk out he most commonly attends us closely, and has just breeding enough to listen and look over a man's shoulder when he is writing.23

  Justus could not decide whether Ira had given Lyman orders to hover, or was as disturbed as he over the lieutenant's conduct. It was also possible someone else had told Lyman to spy on the two commissioners. Whatever the cause, Ira refused to discuss anything but prisoner exchanges. When Justus persuaded him to write down counter proposals, Ira refused to sign them. In desperation, Justus presented Haldimand's terms for Vermont: namely a separate province within the Empire, plus 3,000 troops to go up Lake Champlain and protect her territory. If the Green Mountain people were accepted into the United States, all these negotiations were to be kept secret. Ira hedged and said he would present these terms to the legislature when it met in July. When he had something to report his signal would be three puffs of ‘smoak’ and at the middle puff a small white flag.24

  Dissatisfied, Justus sent Ensign David Breakenridge, King's Rangers, to Bennington to ‘Procure intelligence’ from his father, James Breakenridge Sr. Justus explained ‘Perhaps the Old Gentleman's opinion of Vermont policy may be worth sending for’. His letter ended on a note more cheerful than he felt:

  P.S. I have been informed that the General wishes to procure a young Moose Deer, and I would be very much obliged to you to inform me by the next post; as my Men have taken a young one which I can procure – Have directed them to keep it here and supply it with Milk till I hear from you25

  Justus and Ira held other discussions, all along the same lines. Ira said any talk of reunion was premature, and Major Dundas was eyeing Justus oddly. Haldimand had ordered Dundas to take no part in the negotiations with Ira Allen, and yet had ordered him to read all dispatches before sending them to Quebec City. The governor's instructions left Justus bewildered and frustrated, since he could not send any secret reports to Haldimand. Fortunately, Major Richard Lernoult recovered enough to join Justus, and he had one person in whom he could confide. In a dispatch dated May 21, Haldimand ordered talks on prisoner exchanges suspended until Vermont stopped stalling on reunion.26 When this message reached Isle aux Noix, Ira announced that he was leaving. The whole visit had been a waste of time.

  On June 2, in a final letter from Isle aux Noix before setting out for Fort St. Johns, Justus informed Haldimand that Vermont was planning to annex the land to the west as far as the entrance to the Mohawk River, and General Philip Schuyler, the rebel commander in Albany, half-heartedly agreed, to prevent the wholesale movement of loyalists and the war weary from that territory into Vermont. Elijah Bothum and Thomas Sherwood reported that Schuyler had been burning boats along the Hudson River to check the exodus.27 After handing this letter to a fast courier, Justus hurried to Fort St. Johns, planning to write a more detailed report for the governor, which was exactly what His Excellency wanted. Letters were more likely to be intercepted around Isle aux Noix.

  At his house he found Anna Sherwood in charge, for Sarah had taken to her bed. The physicians at the fort could not identify the cause of her illness, but thought a good rest would help her.28 Justus had scarcely reached home before he received an order from Mathews to come to Quebec City and confer with the governor on what had transpired during Ira Allen's visit. Reluctantly he left Sarah and travelled by express, riding hard, stopping to change horses at inns, napping when he could ride no farther. When he reached the Château St. Louis, he learned that Haldimand had decided that he would no longer be subordinate to the commandants of Fort St. Johns, Isle aux Noix and Pointe au Fer. Justus was to be the head of the British Secret Service, Northern Department, reporting directly to the governor, and in command of all scouting and gathering of intelligence, except for the western posts,29 since placing these under Sherwood's jurisdiction would be impracticable.

  Before he left, Justus had permission for a private headquarters, where his agents could come and go, free of the gossip that was such a curse at Fort St. Johns. Isle aux Noix was
better, but Justus wanted complete secrecy. The place he recommended was a secluded bay on Long Isle, which some Vermonters were calling North Hero Island in honour of Ethan Allen.30

  When Justus reached Fort St. Johns he found Dr. George Smyth, the valuable agent from Albany. He had arrived on June 14 in company with a scout named Mathew Howard, whose home was at Pittstown, near Bennington. Howard had rushed Smyth through the forest, well aware that the rebels were desperate to capture the master spy. On the 15th, Smyth had written Haldimand:

  Yesterday I arrived at this post, much indisposed. The Climbing of Mountains & Rocks, & travelling thro' Swamps & Thickets renders me incapable at present to pay my personal respects to your Excellency, but when my health is restor'd will do myself the Honour of waiting on you when I shall inform you of the cause of my flight &c'31

  Anna Sherwood, who was well acquainted with the doctor, had invited him to stay at the house to convalesce. Justus approved, for he wanted to get to know Smyth personally. The man who had signed his letters Hudibras loved to talk, and he launched into a recital of his experiences without probing. Born in Ireland, the doctor emigrated with his wife and sons, Terence and Thomas, in 1770. For a time he practiced medicine at Fort Edward, near his brother, Patrick the lawyer, then he moved to Claverack, south of Albany. He was questioned many times by the rebel committees, arrested and taken to Albany when Burgoyne's army set out from Canada in 1777. After eighteen months in gaol, Hudibras was released on parole, but he had to stay within the confines of Albany. For some time he had worked in the rebels' military hospital.

  Despite the restrictions placed on him, Hudibras continued passing information, keeping a network of men spying, aided by his wife and sons. On August 1, 1780, he was charged with sending one, Peter Cohoun, through the country, and was arrested and confined in irons. When he became ill, the rebels released him and placed him under house arrest.32 On May 28, 1781, the Albany Board of Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies issued warrants for the arrest of Hudibras and his son Terence — code name Young Hudibras. Terence was captured and placed in Albany gaol, but the doctor had vanished. He succeeded in reaching Bennington, hoping for sanctuary from Joseph Fay, but he was captured by rebel sympathizers and marched back inside New York. A party of rebels from that state was escorting Smyth to Albany gaol when Mathew Howard, on a scout, overtook the doctor and his escort and rescued him. Thus the spy who called himself after the hero of a satirical poem by Samuel Butler reached safety.

  Justus thought Dr. Smyth a delightful man, witty and at least as knowledgeable as himself on many of the characters he had to deal with. Not only that, Smyth was keeping an eye on Sarah, assuring Justus that rest was all she needed. Like many young mothers she was finding the care of three children taxing. When Smyth reached Fort St. Johns, his younger son Thomas was serving as a lieutenant in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. Mrs. Smyth was still in Albany, very worried for their other son Terence, and passing messages, as she had done during the doctor's two periods of confinement.

  From Smyth, Justus learned that John Walden Meyers had been at the house during his absence. Meyers had returned from carrying dispatches to New York City, bringing fourteen recruits for the King's Rangers, a British regular who had escaped from a prisoner of war camp, and four rebel militia officers which his party had kidnapped at Ballstown. Colonel St. Leger was elated at Meyers' success, Smyth jubilant, Justus livid. As he feared, Meyers had travelled south through Ballstown, and had accompanied his scout Richard Ferguson. On his return journey, Meyers decided to stage his own raid.

  He did not have permission and he might have endangered other scouts near Ballstown, for the rebels would have gone in force after him. For the moment Justus could not take Meyers to task because he was on his way to Quebec City to confer with Haldimand.33 Yet one aspect of Meyers' caper amused Justus. Two of his recruits were French regulars, deserters whom St. Leger refused to allow to join a provincial corps, even the King's Rangers, which belonged to the Central Department.

  Justus was favourably impressed with Dr. Smyth, despite his irritation over Meyers' insubordination. In his own way, Hudibras, too, was a dominant male. A small man who wore spectacles, Smyth was wily, loved intrigue and could achieve through manipulation what Justus accomplished by being forthright. However, Justus had to establish his new headquarters, leaving the doctor at his house recovering his strength. He sent a request to Colonel Peters at Verchères for his company to join him at Fort St. Johns as soon as possible, but received a refusal by the earliest post. Lieutenant Dulmage and the men had recently returned from working on the blockhouse at Yamaska, and Peters declined to release them.34

  On June 28, Justus set off for Long Isle, accompanied by twenty-three men, loyalists not attached to any provincial corps and hefty youths, to build a blockhouse at a spot known as Dutchman's Point.35 Pondering his poor relationship with John Peters, Justus longed to transfer his company from the Queen's Loyal Rangers so that he could serve under a more reasonable officer.

  Setting of the Loyal Blockhouse

  Chapter 11

  The Loyal Blockhouse

  Justus decided that the headquarters of the British Secret Service, Northern Department, would stand on some high ground at the end of Dutchman's Point, which jutted into Lake Champlain on the west side of Long Isle. It was an ideal defensive site with a view far up the lake, but which could not be seen from either shore. To the north lay abandoned, flat farmlands, once the property of a Dutch family for whom the point was named. The post would be known as the Loyal Blockhouse, to emphasize that this was a loyalist operation. On July 1 he reported to Mathews:

  I arriv'd here yesterday with 23 men including old men, Boys and unincorporated Loyalists. I am now Building an Oven & Hutting the men, shall tomorrow begin felling timber for the block house. Timber is not so plentiful here as I expected & we must draw it a mile at least.

  He made bricks of local clay, drying them in the sun and firing them to make them hard. He continued:

  The spot on which I propose setting the Block House is a rise just at the extremity of the point, about five yards higher than the other ground & may be fronted with Abbitis [abatis] of about 50 yards in length from water to water.

  While Justus was busy working on his blockhouse, Dr. George Smyth made a journey to Quebec City to meet Haldimand. During this visit the governor decided to appoint the doctor Sherwood's deputy in all four matters that were his concern — the secret service, prisoners, refugees and the negotiations with Vermont. When a letter from Mathews advised him of Smyth's appointment, Justus was pleased, although the secretary warned him that Hudibras had said he would be delighted to have Captain Sherwood as his assistant.1 On July 9, Joseph Fay arrived, and the Royal George came from Fort St. Johns to patrol offshore until Justus' defences were completed. Aboard her was Dr. Smyth, eager to attend the meeting with Fay.2

  The three commissioners settled themselves in a stateroom aboard the vessel, and Joseph reported that nothing had transpired when the Vermont Legislature met. Representatives from all the states were in attendance, who asked to see all the correspondence that had been received by Governor Chittenden from Governor Haldimand. Ira put them off by saying he had left everything at home. With a chuckle Hudibras interrupted the proceedings, to Justus' annoyance. ‘Let humble Allen with an awkward shame, Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.’

  The emissaries from the other states were satisfied with Ira's excuse, but he admitted that Haldimand was willing to grant Vermont a charter like Connecticut's. That the governor had not made exactly that offer was unimportant. Joseph expected the Congress to offer its own terms, which his people were certain to reject.

  Justus was perturbed. Ira should have come. Joseph was too young to shoulder the responsibility of the negotiations alone. Ira, Joseph reported, had gone to Philadelphia with his elder brother, Jonas Fay, to address the Congress and allay suspicion in that quarter. Joseph admitted that he was emp
owered to discuss only prisoner exchanges, and Justus stated that these had been suspended for the moment. Interrupting again, Dr. Smyth reported that Haldimand was willing to have exchanges go ahead. Fay prepared to depart, promising to send a list of prisoners the Vermonters were ready to hand over.3

  By July 14, after some arm twisting by Colonel St. Leger, Colonel Peters dispatched Lieutenant James Parrot, of the Queen's Loyal Rangers, as well as two sergeants, three corporals, Elijah Bothum, Samuel and Thomas Sherwood and fifteen others from Justus' company, to help at the Loyal Blockhouse.4 At the same time, St. Leger sent thirteen men from his 34th Regiment, while Major Dundas let Justus have an engineer from Isle aux Noix to supervise construction, and a team of oxen.5 Justus was grateful to the pompous St. Leger, for recognizing the importance of the new post.

  On July 20, Justus received a letter from Joseph Fay, then at Crown Point. The schooner Carleton had picked Fay up near Ticonderoga, and he would soon forward a list of thirty-six prisoners, among them Major Zadock Wright, of Justus' own regiment. Justus was pleased that at last the negotiations would soon bear some fruit, and surely this would be a first step towards serious discussions on reunion. He was also delighted with the progress his men had made on the blockhouse.

  Reporting to Mathews on the 29th, Justus wrote that when completed the blockhouse might be defended by fifty men against:

  300 with small arms as two or three swivels may be plac'd in it to good advantage…. There is not so proper a place on the Frontier as this for the residence and departure of secret scouts6