John Graves Simcoe, 1752-1806 Read online

  SIMCOE’S REGIMENT

  Meanwhile, since his wounding at Brandywine, Simcoe’s health had improved. He now felt well able to assume the active command of the Queen’s Rangers. With Howe secure in Philadelphia, Washington set up his winter quarters at Valley Forge, some twenty miles farther up the Schuylkill River. The stage was set for gruelling campaigns that were designed for ranger techniques. The North American colonies were thinly populated. Vast stretches of the seaboard colonies were still heavily wooded. Wagon roads were few, but the countryside was criss-crossed by forest trails bordered by suitable cover. Light troops, whether on foot or mounted, could avoid main roads, move along trails and launch surprise attacks or circle round to cut off the enemy or to attack flanks.

  The Queen’s Rangers had lost heavily, both at Brandywine and at Germantown. Simcoe’s first task was to bring his corps up to strength again. While stationed in Philadelphia he acquired his company of thirty kilted Highlanders. From North Carolina, they had been captured at the fiasco at Moore’s Creek Bridge in February 1776. An army of rebels had ambushed men belonging to the North Carolina Loyalists, killing many and sending more as prisoners to Philadelphia. Nearly all were Jacobites, but they nevertheless chose to serve “German Geordie.” Early in 1778, Simcoe was able to form his first troop of thirty cavalrymen — the light cavalry he preferred to call Hussars. After a German Jaeger’s “friendly fire” killed one of his riders because his cap resembled too closely those of the rebel cavalry, Simcoe selected a distinctive high cap so that his side would instantly recognise one of their own.9

  He had a feel for the effective use of light infantry, and cavalry as well. He also formed a company of grenadiers who would be useful in following up where the lighter troops made openings. In his Journal Simcoe specified much that Robert Rogers had written for the first Queen’s Rangers. The men must be very fit, and able to operate independently. When moving as a regiment, they to travel in three divisions, 100 yards apart. From Philadelphia, the Rangers were employed protecting local farmers who brought in supplies, and in attacking Washington’s outposts, taking prisoners in many short skirmishes with rebel patrols. He claimed that his infantry could march ninety miles in a week, and the cavalry could cover more ground.10

  He added some rifles as sharpshooters to his corps. Rifles had a longer range and were more accurate than muskets, but they also took longer to load. At that time riflemen were not equipped with bayonets, which prevented them joining other foot soldiers in a follow-up charge. Most of his light infantrymen carried muskets and socketed bayonets that they attached to their weapons. Discharging of muskets was usually the preliminary to charging with the bayonet, a technique that demanded considerable practice. When not on patrol, the Rangers trained constantly, not the parade-ground drill of the regular regiments but to operate in the fields or woods, learning the means of attack and defense, how to make use of cover, and to give support to one another. Rangers were also expected to behave well. Simcoe frequently cautioned them against mistreating prisoners or plundering, which would make them unpopular with the civilian population. He also kept a book on the conduct of the men, noting cases of drinking, which would also make Rangers offensive to the enemy. Guards, traditionally, were supervised by sergeants. Simcoe ordered commissioned officers to assume this duty, as the “Vigilance of Gentlemen” was superior to that of non-commissioned officers.11

  In February 1778, word reached Howe that General “Mad Anthony” Wayne was out with a large force foraging for General Washington. Howe dispatched the Queen’s Rangers and the 42nd Regiment to intercept Wayne. They first took up a position at Haddonfield, then fell back to Cooper’s Ferry on the Delaware River, where under cover of thick woods they formed a defensive line. Some of Simcoe’s Hussars went forward to lure the rebels towards the concealed British. The kilted 42nd attacked while the Rangers cut round the enemy left to hit them on the flank. The enemy were driven back in confusion. By then bad news arrived. France had formed an alliance with the Continental Congress, and in the spring would be sending a fleet carrying regular soldiers to come to Washington’s aid.

  Sir William Howe soon resigned, and Sir Henry Clinton became the new commander in chief. Clinton realised that he could not hold both Philadelphia and New York with the troops he had, and in June he began to evacuate the former. The withdrawal to New York would be by land, because he had not sufficient transports to carry some 20,000 troops. The army set out in two columns, the Queen’s Rangers as the vanguard of the left column, skirmishing along the way. Washington followed after Clinton hoping for a chance to attack.

  Near Allentown, about halfway, Lieutenant Wickham, of the Hussars, and Simcoe, while reconnoitering, encountered two men who approached, mistaking them for American officers. Wickham promptly introduced Simcoe as “Colonel Lee” — Henry Lee, Washington’s cavalry commander. One said he had a son in Lee’s corps, and the two proceeded to tell Simcoe just what he longed to know. Then, when one wondered aloud what Sir Henry Clinton was doing, Simcoe replied, as he took them prisoners: “You can ask him yourself, for we are British.”12

  Colonel Henry Lee, nicknamed “Light Horse Harry,” was a true Virginia gentleman, whom Simcoe soon held in high regard. (He was also the father of another Virginia gentleman, Robert Edward Lee, who surrendered the Confederate Army to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox in 1865.)13

  On 27 June the Queen’s Rangers attacked a rebel patrol, then discovered 700 militia coming towards them. They attacked and the militia fled, but Simcoe was wounded. The wound was not life threatening but the pain was “excruciating” and compelled him to retire. Captain Arthur Ross took temporary command. A heat wave struck and by the 28th when 6,000 of Washington’s force attacked the British rear the heat had become horrendous. When more of Washington’s forces arrived, the two armies joined at Monmouth. Simcoe was still off duty for the battle in which Washington had 142 killed and 300 wounded (37 dead of sunstroke). Of Clinton’s troops 190 were killed, 390 wounded, and 57 died from sunstroke. The Queen’s Rangers and other light infantry had penetrated so far into Washington’s army that Clinton had to send two more battalions to extricate them all.14

  On 5 July the Rangers, with Simcoe recovered and again in command, reached Sandy Hook, where they covered the army’s embarkation for Staten Island. In the whole operation not one man had deserted or had fallen out, unfit to continue. From the safe Staten Island base, the Rangers continued skirmishing and reconnoitering. Sergeant Kelly, of the Hussar troop, was ambushed and captured by the enemy. Kelly had recently deserted the rebels to join Simcoe, who demanded an exchange. He threatened that if Kelly were executed he would execute six rebels in retaliation. Kelly was returned to him.

  That summer of 1778, Banastre Tarleton, from the 79th Regiment, received the command of the British Legion. Often supporting each other’s corps, Simcoe and Tarleton had much meeting of the minds. Simcoe acquired a three-pounder cannon, nicknamed a “grasshopper” because of its mobility, and three artillerymen to fire it. At this stage, the Queen’s Rangers were considerably more than a conventional regiment. Before the weather had turned too harsh for campaigning, Simcoe had led his Rangers with the attacking forces at Quinton’s Bridge, Hancock’s Bridge, and Monmouth, all in New Jersey, and at East Chester, Valentine’s Hill, and Tappan, in New York.15

  The Quinton’s and Hancock’s encounters, which took place in March, were close together on the Alloway River. Judge William Hancock and his brother, both Loyalists, were killed accidentally when troops attacked the Hancock house. Simcoe was very upset because he understood that the judge was not living at home. No one told him that Hancock usually returned home for the night. American sources describe these actions as “massacres.”16

  For the cold season of 1778-79 the Rangers went into winter quarters at Oyster Bay, Long Island, but not for a restful time. Patrolling continued, and training when other duties did not interfere. Yet Simcoe found time to make more new friends. Major John André, of the 54th Re
giment, was a deputy adjutant general to Sir Henry Clinton, who assisted in the gathering of intelligence. In André, Simcoe found another kindred spirit. The bond was similar to the one he had established with Edward Drewe before he was invalided home. Another new friend was Francis Lord Rawdon, heir to the Anglo-Irish Earl of Moira. Rawdon led the Volunteers of Ireland, a Provincial Corps nearly as active and effective as Simcoe’s. Rawdon and Tarleton both came from wealthy families, an advantage that Simcoe did not share. The first two could call on private funds for equipment, while Simcoe was dependent on his own earnings or on the funds and equipment the army was willing to supply.

  During the winter he was recruiting for his Hussars, whose ranks had been depleted in the field. At New York City he placed an advertisement in Rivington’s Royal Gazette:

  ALL ASPIRING HEROES

  Have now an opportunity of distinguishing themselves by joining

  THE QUEEN’S RANGERS

  Commanded by

  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL SIMCOE

  Every spirited young man will receive every encouragement, be immediately mounted on an elegant horse, and furnished with clothing, accoutrements &c, to the amount of FORTY GUINEAS, by applying to Cornet Spencer, at his quarters, No. 1033 Water Street, or his rendezvous, Hewitt’s Tavern, near the Coffee House on Golden Hill.

  Whoever brings a recruit shall instantly receive TWO GUINEAS.

  VIVANT REX ET REGINA

  Simcoe may have been stretching things a bit. Forty guineas for each man’s equipment was extravagant, and elegant horses were certainly in short supply, even at New York. Nor was he yet a lieutenant colonel, even in the field.

  By the spring the Queen’s Rangers were serving on the right flank of the army. Knowing that Howe was impressed with the corps, Simcoe wrote to his former commander in chief asking for “rank in the Army” for the Queen’s Rangers.17 Howe’s response, which recognised the value of certain of his Provincial Corps, was not quite what Simcoe had in mind. On 2 May, Howe arranged to have three of the corps placed on a special new American establishment, a higher status, but not for The Army List. The Queen’s Rangers became the 1st American Regiment; the Volunteers of Ireland the 2nd, and the New York Volunteers the 3rd.18 Simcoe now received local rank of lieutenant colonel. In late August, he led his Rangers back to Oyster Bay for a short break. Clinton, with Charles Lord Cornwallis as his second in command, set out for a second attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina. This time they would be successful, although a long siege lay ahead of them. Left in command at New York was General von Knyphausen, a man Simcoe much respected.

  When Simcoe learned of a “sinister event,” he reported it to von Knyphausen. The rebels had assembled about fifty boats at Middlebrook, on the Rarita River, New Jersey, and Simcoe resolved on a raid to destroy the boats; otherwise, they might be used to transport a rebel force to attack New York. The operation was risky because militiamen and “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s cavalry were thick on the ground. Washington himself was only twenty miles away, at Morristown.

  With von Knyphausen’s approval, Simcoe assembled his raiding party at Billop’s Point, the southwest corner of Staten Island. He chose 300 Ranger infantrymen and Hussars, some mounted Loyalists from Colonel Christopher Billop’s Staten Island Militia, and a troop of Bucks County Light Dragoons under a Captain Sandford. These dragoons had originally been raised near Philadelphia, and had come north with Clinton. The party crossed the short stretch of water in small boats, and captured the mainland village of Perth Amboy. Simcoe sent his infantry to South River Bridge and left them in command of his major, Richard Armstrong, to wait in ambush in the hope that some rebels would follow him there. And Simcoe set off with eighty of his cavalry and rode towards Middlebrook. At dawn militia were stirring, but most assumed that Simcoe’s men were part of Henry Lee’s cavalry.

  Disappointment awaited. Simcoe found only eighteen boats at Middlebrook; the others had been moved elsewhere. After destroying the ones they found, they stopped at a rebel forage depot to feed their horses, still pretending to be Lee’s men. To avoid returning to Perth Amboy, through an alarmed countryside, they went south to Hillsborough, released prisoners from the courthouse jail, burned the building and turned east. They intended to bypass an enemy post at Brunswick and meet up with the infantrymen Simcoe had left at South River Bridge.

  A Loyalist serving as a guide accidentally led Simcoe into a large force of rebel militia. Riding with the advance guard of Hussars, Simcoe galloped forward hoping to break through the ambushing rebels, but his horse was shot dead under him and he fell, stunned. Captain Sandford took charge of the fierce fighting and rejoined the rest near South River Bridge. Major Armstrong led everyone to Perth Amboy and embarked. Henry Lee and Anthony Wayne attempted pursuit, but they were too late. Behind them the still barely conscious Simcoe was taken prisoner. One young rebel was about to plunge his bayonet into the prostrate Simcoe, but an older one called out, “Let him alone, the rascal is dead enough already!”19

  FOUR

  LIKE A COMMON CRIMINAL

  Although the young rebel had decided against dispatching Simcoe with his bayonet, yet another militiaman claimed he would have shot him in the head, had he realised that he was looking at a colonel. “I thought all Colonels wore lace.” A portrait of Simcoe as Colonel of the Queen’s Rangers, 1790s era, shows him in an officer’s coat, green with gold lace. Apparently, during the Revolutionary War, he wore a less ornate coat for service in the field so that he would not stand out from the other officers in the regiment.1 Edward Drewe could be the man who influenced Simcoe to choose this form of camouflage.

  Gradually, as Simcoe regained consciousness, he was appalled to find himself a prisoner of war. The rebels then removed him to the village of Brunswick and placed him in a tavern. The local people were ready for blood, because a popular Captain Vorhees, of the New Jersey Militia, had been killed during the raid. In his journal Simcoe sometimes wrote in the third person: “It was intended to bring Col. Simcoe to Capt. Vorhees’s grave to skew him the cruelty of his people, but I could not answer it.”2

  The prisoners whom the rebels had captured “were with difficulty preserved by Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Morris (who bled Col. Simcoe) and another gentleman from assassination …” The governor of New Jersey, William Livingston, after making:

  a little harangue … to the populace, thought it necessary to give Lt. Col. Simcoe the following written protection. Tho the populace much angered, refrain from abusing a Br. officer & wounded — treat according to the rules of war as practised by all civilized nations.3

  Mr. Alexander Kelloch, the Queen’s Rangers’ surgeon, soon arrived in Brunswick. He had come with a flag of truce to take care of his colonel. The flag was carried by a “Serjeant,” bringing Edward Heifernon, Simcoe’s servant, “to attend him unmolested.” Some people recalled that Simcoe, as Captain of Grenadiers, had offered them his protection. They volunteered to help “preserve him from insults.”4 When word of his survival reached his regiment, the men shouted, “The father of the Rangers is alive!” This news arrived after Sir Henry Clinton had informed Lord George Germain, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that Simcoe had been killed.

  In due course Germain’s reply reached New York:

  The loss of so gallant and able an officer as Colonel Simcoe is much to be lamented: but, I hope, his misfortune will not damp the spirit of the brave loyalists he so often led out with success. His last enterprise was certainly a very bold one; and I should be glad he had been in a situation to be informed, that his spirited conduct was approved by the King.5

  On 28 October, Simcoe was removed on parole to Borden Town, and lodged in a tavern kept by one Colonel Hoogland “of the Jersey militia.” Simcoe was “treated with great civility except by Messers Borden and Kirkbride who were especially violent.” Simcoe and Surgeon Kelloch felt that only in the tavern were they safe. When they went out for a walk they were met with threats. Meanwhile, entirely false reports of Simcoe’s
cruelties were spreading, of which the rebel justices of the peace could not obtain any proof. Some people were even ready to testify to Simcoe’s humanity.

  When Colonel Henry Lee found out where Simcoe was, he wrote offering pecuniary assistance. A Lieutenant Campbell of the 74th Regiment, on parole at nearby Prince Town, offered Simcoe a loan. He chose to accept Campbell’s offer rather than be beholden to an enemy, although he appreciated Lee’s gentlemanly offer and sent him a polite reply. Writing on 6 November, Colonel Lee was pleased that Simcoe was comfortable, and he did not “credit reports of his cruelty.” One of Lee’s dragoons, captured and exchanged, informed his commander that he had been well treated by the British.

  On 7 November, Governor Livingston himself came to Borden Town to confer with Simcoe for a speedy prisoner exchange. Fully expecting to be back on Staten Island almost immediately, Simcoe was disconcerted the next day when a rebel militia party arrived at the tavern, conducting Colonel Christopher Billop, the commander of the Staten Island loyal militia who had been taken prisoner. Both Billop and Simcoe were to be marched to the county jail in Burlington the following day. Colonel Hoogland intervened and put his “waggon” at their disposal. The regimental surgeon and the sergeant who had led the flag of truce would be allowed to return to Staten Island, but the servant Edward Heifernon — and perhaps Lieutenant John McGill of the Hussars — would be confined with Simcoe. No one was allowed to speak with Heifernon or McGill. Simcoe approved of the Scots-born McGill, because he had absorbed a certain Virginian veneer even though he retained a mild Scots accent. The Colonel was even more impressed when McGill told him that his grandfather had been a captain in the army of King William III.6