John Graves Simcoe, 1752-1806 Read online

  While the army in Boston was pinned down, the action had moved to an attempt by the rebels, under Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, to capture Canada. Montgomery had moved from Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to Montreal. Arnold had led an expedition from the Kennebec River, in what is now Maine, directly towards the fortress of Quebec, overlooking the St. Lawrence. An attack on New Year’s Eve failed. Montgomery was killed, and Arnold wounded. Later, Arnold led a retreat to Montreal to await reinforcements.

  Meanwhile, in Boston, accommodation for troops and officers alike was crowded. On 13 March, Simcoe wrote to his mother:

  It is past two o’clock in the morning. I am Captain of our Picquet [party of sentries]. In one corner of the room on one half of my bed made (luxury indeed) of clean straw, lies an officer asleep with his feet towards the fire. He snores, but not in one drone, but in several modulations. My bayonet is stuck in the table, the socket of which serves as a candlestick to the night light. One half of my chair is now burning in the fire and the other, when I shall have finished this letter will be applied to the same use, serving rather to light the room than to warm it, there being no want of fuel from a multitude of wooden houses and coal. Underneath me is a Capt. Bradstreets: on the same floor my company repose almost drowning the solo of my companion with an almost anti-musical concert. Scattered in the room lie many excellent and valuable books, picked up in the street by my sergeant, where they were thrown in the trunk that contained them to form part of a barricade.12

  One can hear, even smell, that small room somewhere in Boston. Simcoe, a lover of books, was affronted by such wanton destruction of so valuable a resource. Odd is his reference to his bayonet. Officers were not expected to carry them nor to make use of muskets; that was for the rank and file, although officers of flank companies carried fusils. On 17 March, four days after Simcoe had finished his letter, the British Army began to evacuate Boston. Guarded by Admiral Howe’s ships of war, and riding in unarmed transports, the troops moved to Halifax, to be ready for a renewed assault on the colonies.

  Reinforcements arrived in Quebec from Britain, before much help reached Benedict Arnold. The military governor of Canada, General Guy Carleton, had cleared the province of rebels by June. Among his officers were the Baron von Riedesel, commander of German troops, and John Burgoyne, who had been on a leave of absence from Boston. Americans still scornfully refer to all the Germans as “Hessians” and mercenaries. However, they were also subjects of King George III in his capacity as Elector of Hanover.

  In July Jeremiah Milles wrote again, noting that Simcoe’s comrade in arms, Edward Drewe, could usually be seen in Moll’s Coffee House in Cathedral Close. By that time the British Army was leaving Halifax, bound for the relief of New York City, and General George Washington had taken command of the rebels’ Continental Army. On 4 July the rebels proclaimed their Declaration of Independence. A few weeks later an expedition under General Henry Clinton failed to capture Charleston, South Carolina.

  In August General Howe opened his campaign against New York and New Jersey. On the 27th the British drove the rebels out of Long Island. By 15 September, following the Battle of Harlem Heights, Howe had occupied New York City. Simcoe’s future friend, General Alexander Leslie, commanded the British troops at Harlem Heights. Howe could now establish his Central Department. On 28 October, Howe and Leslie drove Washington out of White Plains, north of New York on the Hudson River. The 40th Regiment was involved in most of these actions, but Simcoe did not leave a record of his participation. In the midst of the energetic campaign, Simcoe’s mother, Katherine, died. The Exeter Flying Post in the 28 June issue reported: “Saturday last died at her house in the Close Mrs. Simcoe, much lamented by her friends.”13

  When or how Simcoe received the news is not known, but Jeremiah Milles wrote a letter of condolence dated 19 October 1776. Milles reported that his brother, Dick, had been ordained by the Bishop of Exeter, and that a mutual friend, Tobias Cholwich, was standing for Parliament. This was probably the “Brother Cholwich” who had proposed Simcoe as a Freemason several years earlier. On his part, while grieving at being unable to comfort his mother in her last days, Simcoe was very much occupied with the war and he had scant time to dwell on events at home. Early in 1777 Simcoe received several important letters from Devonshire. One was from William Pitfield, a friend of the family and the apothecary responsible for drugs at Exeter Hospital. Pitfield, who was among the city’s leading citizens, was in charge of some of Mrs. Simcoe’s affairs. In a letter of condolence he wrote:

  Your poor mother’s death was truly a release her last disorders were so exceedingly painful that no friend could wish her continuance. She made all provisions a good woman could for the payment of her debts.14

  Pitfield sought Simcoe’s instructions regarding a woman named Tozer, who had been in his mother’s service and in receipt of an annuity from her. He wondered whether Simcoe wished to continue the annuity, although Pitfield thought that this was not necessary. Mrs. Simcoe also owed Pitfield £100. He had been able to sell some of her effects for £50, and he requested Simcoe to send him a draft for the balance. Little evidence suggests that Mrs. Simcoe was more than comfortably off. The sum of £950 for her son’s captaincy must have been a considerable drain. (The cost of the captaincy was £1,500, but he would have obtained £550 from the sale of his lieutenancy.)

  Also corresponding with Simcoe at this time was Admiral Samuel Graves. On his return to England he had gone into virtual retirement at Hembury Fort House, near Honiton in east Devon. Graves admitted to his godson that he had no further naval ambitions and was content to remain at his country estate. Widowed some years before, he had then married in 1769 Miss Margaret Spinckes of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, an heiress in her own right. Growing up in Aldwinkle with her grandmother, Jemima Steward Spinckes, was Miss Elizabeth Gwillim, a wealthy girl who was orphaned at birth. Her father, Colonel Thomas Gwillim, had died on duty in Germany sometime after she was conceived. Elizabeth was baptized on 22 September 1762. Her mother was buried on the 23rd.15 She was a frequent visitor to Hembury Fort House, and almost from the start the admiral looked upon her as a future Mrs. Simcoe. In May 1776, her fourteenth year, her Grandmother Spinckes died. Miss Gwillim then came to reside most of the time in Devonshire with the Graves.

  On 11 September 1777, the 40th Regiment was involved in the hard-fought and costly British success on the banks of the Brandywine Creek, in Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia. Simcoe was severely wounded, but the nature of these wounds was not revealed. Some of the highest casualties on that campaign were borne by a Provincial Corps called the Queen’s Rangers. Many British officers were scornful of the colonials, but the most astute recognised that the guerrilla hit-and-run tactics at which the Provincials excelled, could do far more damage against the rebels than set-piece battles of the European manner. Simcoe was one of the latter. His conviction grew as word arrived that General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne was in trouble. He was in command of an army of British, German, Canadian and Provincial troops that had descended from Montreal.

  Popular myth states that Burgoyne was supposed to come south and affect a junction with General Howe, who would come north towards Albany. In fact, Burgoyne was aware, before he left Canada, that Howe would move on Philadelphia. Burgoyne’s orders were that he was to reach Albany and place himself under Howe’s command. Military etiquette decreed that General Carleton, now Sir Guy, could not lead the expedition because he was senior to Howe.16 A junior general was required because New York (province/state) was Howe’s territory.

  By October, Burgoyne found his army surrounded and outnumbered at Saratoga. On the 17th he surrendered to rebel General Horatio Gates. Howe had taken Philadelphia on 26 September, since when Simcoe had been convalescing in that city. So was the commander of the Queen’s Rangers, Major James Wemyss. The corps was temporarily under Lieutenant Colonel John Randolph Grymes, but headquarters was considering a permanent replacement for Wemy
ss. At age twenty-five Captain John Graves Simcoe saw his opportunity.

  PART II

  THE DASHING PARTISAN

  The American Revolutionary War lasted from 1776, with the Declaration of Independence, until after the Treaty of Separation in 1783. The war was not confined to Britain and her rebelling colonies. Both sides acquired allies, which complicated the tensions.

  In May 1776, the Continental Congress, the rebels’ governing body to conduct the war, sent a mission to Paris, led by Benjamin Franklin, in quest of support. In August, Britain began recruiting in several German states. In April 1777, the young French aristocrat, the Marquis de Lafayette, arrived in the colonies with a party of French volunteers. Spain declared war on Britain in June 1779, on the assurance that France would help her recover Gibraltar.

  In 1780, France, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden formed a League of Armed Neutrality, and in November, Britain declared war on Holland to prevent that country joining the league. Britain was also fighting in India to prevent the French, Dutch and Portuguese, or Indians, seizing the assets of the East India Company. Empress Catherine II (The Great) of Russia was also in a conquering mood.

  Britain recruited Germans, and then Loyalists resident in the colonies, as a source of support for the limited number of British regular troops she could commit to North America. They were organised into four military departments, established as headquarters for the conduct of the war. Along the frontier were aboriginal nations who traded with the officers of the British Indian Department stationed at Niagara, Detroit and other posts. Encouraging Indians to take to the war path was fairly simple. They resented the way frontiersmen were encroaching on the lands that had been guaranteed, by treaty, to be closed to white settlement.

  The rebel Continental Congress established the Continental Army, regulars commanded by George Washington. Militia units in the various colonies, usually dating from before the rebellion began, tended to support the Continentals, but they were divided. Some units were served joined Provincial Corps of the British Army that were stationed in the military departments — troops that took to the field against the rebels, sometimes with British regulars, at other times by themselves. Loyalists resident close to department headquarters turned out with the militia when such headquarters were threatened with attack. A few units, the Staten Island Militia, for example, left their home turf. Several times they crossed into New Jersey to do battle with the rebels. The longer the war continued, the greater was British dependence on her loyal Provincials, a fact seldom understood. Afterwards, British officers often blamed the failure of the war on the lack of Loyalist support, but in fact it was considerable.

  THREE

  THE GREEN JACKETS

  John Graves Simcoe’s Queen’s Rangers had the reputation as one of the most effective regiments that served the British cause during the American Revolutionary War. Among others in the Central Military Department who qualified for such praise was the British Legion, led by Banastre Tarleton. Author Stephen Jenkins called Simcoe, Tarleton, Andreas Emmerich and Oliver DeLancey “the ablest and most dashing partisans of the British army….”1 The first two, an enterprising, daring Simcoe and a positively reckless Tarleton, were British professional officers; Emmerich and DeLancey were Americans, the first of Dutch/German descent, the second of a French Huguenot family. Emmerich led “Chasseurs,” riflemen; DeLancey raised three battalions of infantry and held Provincial rank as a brigadier general. With a few exceptions the men who followed all four regimental commanders were Americans who had remained loyal to the King.

  At first, green was the colour of the coats worn by Provincial Corps. These corps were inferior to the British regular regiments; they were not included in The Army List. Officers of like rank were considered one rank lower than officers in regular units. At first, they were not entitled to receive half-pay when their corps were reduced, nor were they entitled to pensions if they were disabled. In the case of Simcoe and Tarleton, both were on The Army List, but with the ranks they held in the army, or in their regular regiments.

  As time passed, and many of the Provincial Corps proved their worth, benefits were gradually extended, and officers and men were issued with red coats of the British regulars. Not every regimental commander welcomed the change to red. One who rejected this supposed honour was John Graves Simcoe. Men operating as irregulars were safer in green, which was bright in the springtime, at the start of the yearly campaigns, and faded so that it blended into autumn foliage. Green had other advantages as well. Certain rebel regiments also wore green, and Simcoe’s Rangers were able to move among the enemy without being identified automatically as British soldiers. At first, the corps was light infantry. Gradually, light cavalry — Simcoe chose to call them “Hussars” — were added, and a kilted Highland company uniformed in “old government” tartan, the sett first worn by the Black Watch following the Jacobite rising of 1745-46. Even then, all the Queen’s Rangers retained their green jackets.2

  When Banastre Tarleton received command of the British Legion, a combined force of infantry and cavalry, he, too, retained green coats. Thus the men of the British Legion were nicknamed “Tarleton”s Greens.”3

  ROBERT ROGERS AND THE FIRST AND SECOND QUEEN’S RANGERS

  The name Queen’s Rangers originated during the Seven Years’ War, when the legendary Robert Rogers (1731-1795) received a warrant to raise companies of rangers to operate with greater mobility than conventional infantry. They were uniformed, as far as is known, in green. (Rogers was the recipient of the Hollywood treatment in the 1940 film Northwest Passage, based on the book by Kenneth Roberts. Spencer Tracey played Rogers, sporting a little cap, blue but, in shape, similar to those worn by American soldiers in the Second World War. It in no way resembled any hat thought to have been used by 18th century rangers.)

  Rogers did not invent ranger methods; these had been used on the American frontier for some years, but he did perfect their tactics. The first requirement for a ranger was that he be able to endure severe hardship for long periods of time, miles from the comforts of civilisation. Whereas most regular troops and Provincials went into winter quarters when the weather turned bitter, rangers often operated all year round. In summer they marched or travelled in whaleboats, bateaux or canoes; in winter they used sleighs, skates or snowshoes.4

  On scouting missions rangers walked widely spread out to prevent more than one being a target for an enemy marksman. When crossing swampy ground, they marched abreast to confound trackers. They made camp after dark on a spot where sentries would have a clear view of the enemy and could not be surprised. When several hundred were out together, they marched in three columns, the outer ones some twenty yards from the middle one. Men so spread out were difficult to surround. They were adept at setting up an ambush — what Simcoe wrote as “ambuscade.”5

  Following the peace of 1763, Rogers entered into several enterprises that brought him into disrepute. He spent some time in England, where he was imprisoned for debt. After his debts had been paid by his brother James, Robert returned to North America in 1775. Viewed with suspicion by the rebels, he was confined in Philadelphia, from which he had escaped by 6 July. He made his way to Staten Island, where the British fleet had arrived, and General William Howe was about to land his army. From Howe, Rogers received a warrant, dated in August 1776, to raise a new regiment of Queen’s Rangers.

  The corps was enlarged when the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, arrived at New York bringing with him the Queen’s Loyal Virginia Regiment, which amalgamated with the Queen’s Rangers. With the recruits Rogers’s agents had found in New York and New Jersey and the Virginians, the regiment was close to full strength, 500 men. During the winter of 1776-77, Rogers relinquished command of the corps, possibly through loss of interest. The corps was employed on garrison duty in New York City, work that had scant appeal for this man of action. 6 Sent to guard the outpost at Maroneck, Connecticut, the Rangers were badly mauled on 21 October and forced
to evacuate their position. An inspector general appointed to report on the Provincial units, found that the Queen’s Rangers were in very poor condition.7

  During the Seven Years’ War, Rogers had treated his men as equals, but by 1776 he had undergone a personality change, possibly owing to alcoholism. Serving with the Rangers was William Jarvis. When his cousin, Stephen Jarvis, wished to transfer to the Rangers from the South Carolina Loyalists, Robert Rogers’ behaviour gave him second thoughts:

  I set off to apply to Mr. [William] Jarvis to procure an exchange; when to my great surprise I saw the Lt. Col. of this Regt., who was mounted, attack the Sentinel, at his Marquee, and beat him most unmercifully with his cane, over the head and shoulders. After viewing this transaction I wheeled about, took my knapsack, and marched off with my Regt., without even taking leave of my relations.8

  After command of the corps passed to James Wemyss, who had come from Simcoe’s own 40th Regiment, training began in earnest. In the previous autumn, the experienced Prussian officer, Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen, had arrived from Europe with 4,500 German troops, and General Howe gave him the command of a division. After Major James Wemyss succeeded Robert Rogers, Howe assigned the Queen’s Rangers to von Knyphausen’s division. Howe’s expedition reached Philadelphia via Chesapeake Bay in ships, and over land, by 26 September. Washington was to the north of the city. Howe left Henry Clinton in command and taking von Knyphausen’s division, 9,000 strong, led an expedition to Germantown, seven miles off, to keep Washington’s army at bay. On 4 October the two armies met. After heavy fighting Washington withdrew. At the Battle of Germantown, Major James Wemyss received the wound that opened the way for John Graves Simcoe. On 15 October, at Philadelphia, Howe gave him the command with the local (Provincial) rank of major, although he remained, for the time being a captain in the British Army. The Queen’s Rangers were then encamped outside Germantown, and there Simcoe proceeded the next morning. Before long the army learned that both Howe and Clinton had been knighted, Howe for capturing New York, and Clinton as a peace offering because Burgoyne, not he, had been given command of the expedition from Canada.