Appendix | Arnold’s Expedition to Quebec

Contents

    About the author

    John Codman headshot.
    John Codman the 2nd

    John Codman was a sailor and writer from Dorchester, Massachusetts. A religious man, and son of a pastor, he published a number of works about his travels at sea and American history during the 19th century.

    Contents

      Chapters

      Appendix A: journals

      The following list gives some information concerning all of the journals describing Arnold’s march through the wilderness or the siege of Quebec, the existence of which was known to the author of this volume. A part have attained actual publication, others have been printed for private distribution, while a few are to be found only in the worn and tattered manuscript of the men who wrote them a hundred and twenty-five years ago. They constitute a fairly large and invariably interesting body of historical material, which preserves unimpaired the quaint individuality of their widely diverse authors, and the unmistakable color and atmosphere of a period which must always be of particular importance to, the student of American history. The reader will find much to entertain him in any of these journals to which he may be able to gain access.

      AMERICAN JOURNALS

      ARNOLD’S JOURNAL. This Journal was left by Arnold at West Point, when he fled on hearing of the capture of André, and was found among his papers by Judge Pierpont Edwards, of Connecticut, who was appointed to administer upon the goods and estate of Arnold, his treason making him dead in law. “The manuscript was in existence in 1835, though in a rather dilapidated state.” It was last noted by Mr. Justin Winsor as owned by Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, of New York. A copy made of it when owned by Judge Edwards is in the “Sparks Manuscripts” (LII, Vol. II). Extracts were published in the appendix to the life of Burr, by Samuel L. Knapp, 1835. Its first pages, heretofore, missing, are found in Force’s Archives, Vol. III, page 1058. They are written by ” Eleazer Oswald, Secretary pro tem.”

      HENRY’S JOURNAL, entitled “An Accurate and Interesting Account of the Hardships and Sufferings of the Band of Heroes who Traversed the Wilderness in the Campaign Against Quebec in 1775.” By John Joseph Henry, Esq., late President of the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Lancaster: Printed by William Greer, 1812. Pp. 225. Small 12mo.

      The same. – Libraxy edition. “Campaign Against Quebec, being an Accurate and Interesting Account of the Hardships and Sufferings of that Band of Heroes who Traversed the Wilderness by the Route of the Kennebec and Chaudi6re Rivers to Quebec, in the year 1775.” By John Joseph Henry, Esq., late President of the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Revised edition, with corrections and alterations. Watertown, N. Y.: Printed and published by Knowlton & Rice, 1844. Pp. 212. 16mo. (Sketch of the life of Arnold, copied mainly from Spark’s Biography, at the end of the second edition in the place of notes in the first edition).

      The same. – Third edition. “Account of Arnold’s Campaign against Quebec and of the Hardships and Sufferings of that Band of Heroes, who Traversed the Wilderness of Maine from Cambridge to the St. Lawrence in the Autumn of 1775” By John Joseph Henry, one of the survivors. Albany. Joel Munsell, 1877. With a Memoir of Judge Henry by his grandson, Aubrey H. Smith. Letters from the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, Jan. 3, 1776. Roll of Capt. Matthew Smith’s Company. Henry’s Journal has also been printed with a portrait of the author in Vol. XV of the Pennsylvania Archives.

      MCCOY’S JOURNAL. Henry’s Journal states that Sergeant William McCoy, of Captain Hendricks’s company, while in confinement in Quebec, gave to Major Munay, of the British garrison, a correct copy of a journal kept by himself through the wilderness. Whether it was carried to England is not known. It was probably never published.

      HASKELL’S JOURNAL. May 5, 1775, to May 30, 1776. It includes the early part of the siege of Boston, and notes the hardships and privation endured by the troops in this expedition. It is a diary kept by Caleb Haskell, of Newburyport, Mass., a private in Captain Ward’s company. Published in pamphlet form by William H. Huse & Co., Newburyport, 1881. Edited, with notes, by Lothrop Withington. Mr. Withington’s notes give the names of some of the men who hailed from Newbury and Newburyport, who were soldiers of the Quebec detachment. The manuscript of this journal is believed to be in the possession of some of Haskell’s descendants in Newburyport. The pamphlet edited by Mr. Withington is already rare. The one which he so courteously presented to me, I shall in turn present to the Boston Public Library.

      MELVIN’S JOURNAL. This is entitled “A Journal of the Expedition to Quebec, in the year 1775, under the Command of Colonel Benedict Arnold.” By James Melvin, a private in Captain Dearborn’s company. New York, 1857. With introductory remarks and notes by W. J. D. Large 8vo. Tinted paper. Pp. 30. 100 copies only printed. It commences at Cambridge September 13, 1775, and terminates at Quebec, August 5, 1776. It was edited by William J. Davis, Esq., late private secretary of Hon. George Bancroft. Of the author nothing is known beyond the statement made in the title page.

      MEIGS’S JOURNAL. This is entitled “Journal of the Expedition Against Quebec, under Command of Colonel Benedict Arnold, in the year 1775,” by Major Return J. Meigs, with introduction and notes by Charles J. Bushnell. New York. Privately printed, 1864. 8vo. Fine tinted paper, with portrait of Colonel Christopher Greene. Pp. 57. It begins September 9, at Roxbury, and closes at Quebec, January 1, 1776. The journal was printed in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, Second Series, Vol. II, 1814.

      WARE’S JOURNAL. This is entitled, “A Journal of a March from Cambridge on an Expedition Against Quebec,” in Colonel Benedict Arnold’s Detachment, September 13, 1775. Kept by Joseph Ware, of Needham, Mass. Published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. VI, 1852, with notes by Justin Winsor, of Boston. The author was a private in Captain Samuel Ward’s company.

      SQUIER’S JOURNAL, entitled “The Diary of Ephraim Squier,” September 7 to November 25, 1775, is preserved in the Pension Office, Washington, and is printed in the “Magazine of American History” (Vol. II, p. 685). This is the only account that has come to my notice of the adventures of Colonel Enos’s men on their retreat.

      THAYER’S JOURNAL. “Invasion of Canada in 1775, including the journal of Captain Simeon Thayer, describing the perils and sufferings of the army under Colonel Benedict Arnold, with notes and appendix by E. M. Stone. Providence, 1867, being Vol. VI. of the Rhode Island Historical Society Collections.

      TOPHAM’S JOURNAL. This journal has never been printed. The manuscript is now in the possession of the author’s grandson, James G. Topham, Esq., of Newport, through whose courtesy I was permitted to make a copy. I shall present that copy to the Boston Public Library.

      HETH’S JOURNAL. A “Journal of Lieutenant Wm. Heth,” of Morgan’s riflemen, is referred to in Marshall’s “Washington,” pp. 53-57, and also in Graham’s “Life of Daniel Morgan,” where Morgan in his account of the assault on Quebec, mentions its existence. Wm. Heth’s grandson is Richard H. M. Harrison of Richmond, Virginia. He is said to have a crayon portrait of Lieutenant Heth and possibly the manuscript of the journal.

      WILDE’S JOURNAL. This has been edited by Justin Winsor. It is the diary of Ebenezar Wilde. The manuscript was given to Harvard College Library in 1850 by W. S. Stoddard.

      PORTERFIELD’S JOURNAL. Charles Porterfield, ensign of Morgan’s company, wrote a journal, an extract from which, relating to the attack on Quebec, was printed by the “Magazine of American History” in April, 1889. George A. Porterfield, of Charlestown, West Virginia, writes me that he and Richard P. Bell, Esq., of Staunton, Virginia, great-great-grand-nephew of Charles Porterfield, have made a thorough but unsuccessful search for this manuscript.

      PIERCE’S JOURNAL. This is noted by Mr. Stone as the journal of John Pierce, one of Church’s scouts or surveyors, and in the possession of Charles Congdon, Esq., a member of the Bradford Club of New York. I find that Mr. Congdon’s library, after his decease, was sold and a portion of it purchased by Mr. Jos. F. Sabin. Neither Mr. Sabin nor Mr. Henry M. Congdon, son of Mr. Congdon, have any knowledge of the whereabouts of the journal. The Bradford Club long ago ceased to exist.

      DR. ISAAC SENTER’S JOURNAL. This is entitled, “The Journal of Isaac Senter, Physician and Surgeon to the troops detached from the American army encamped at Cambridge, Mass., on a Secret Expedition against Quebec, under the command of Colonel Benedict Arnold, in September, 1775.” Philadelphia: Published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1846. To this edition is prefixed a brief notice of the manuscript of the journal and a biographical preface. A few notes of reference are added. “This journal was carried to Philadelphia, where it was lost sight of for many years, and finally came into the hands of Dr. Lewis Roper, of that city, whose perception of its importance induced him to communicate it to the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It commences at Cambridge September 13, 1775, and closes at Quebec, January 6, 1776.” Mr. C. A. Munn, of New York, now has the manuscript.

      HENDRICKS’S JOURNAL. This is entitled “Journal of the March of a Party of Provincials from Carlyle to Boston,” and from thence to Quebec, begun July 13 and ended December 31, 1775; to which is added an “Account of the Attack and Engagement of Quebec, the 31st of December, 1775.” Glasgow, 1775, pp. 36. It is the journal of a company of riflemen, under Captain William Hendricks and John Chambers, and was sent from Quebec to Glasgow by a gentleman who appended the account. This journal has been printed in Vol. XV of the Pennsylvania Archives. The name of the author of “The Account” is not given.

      STOCKING’S JOURNAL. “An Interesting Journal of Abner Stocking of Chatham, Connecticut.” Published by his relatives after his decease. Catskill Eagle Office, 1810. A copy of this journal may be found in the Prince Collection of the Boston Public Library. Stocking was a private in Handchett’s company.

      MORISON’S JOURNAL. – A very rare copy of this journal is in the library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It was written by George Morison, a volunteer in Hendricks’s company, and printed at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1803. An account of the assault on Quebec, taken from this journal, is printed in the “Pennsylvania Magazine,” Vol. XIV, 1890, with a brief sketch of Morison’s career. This society has kindly permitted me to have a copy made of the journal. This I shall present to the library of Harvard College.

      FRANCIS NICHOLAS’ PAPERS.-These papers have recently come into possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Portions have been printed in their Historical Magazine.

      CHARLES DENNIS RUSCOE D’ERES MEMOIRS. – Published at Exeter, 1800; begins with the fall of Montgomery. A copy in Harvard College Library. This is a small book of little value.

      THE JOURNAL OF COLONEL RUDOLPHUS RITZEMA, of the 1st New York regiment, from August 8, 1775, to March 30, 1776, now in the New York Historical Society, and printed in Magazine of American History, February, 1877. This journal becomes of value in this connection only after January 1, 1776.

      ENGLISH, FRENCH AND CANADIAN JOURNALS

      LETTER OF COLONEL (generally known as Major) HENRY CALDWELL, written on board the Hunter, British armed vessel. Relates particularly to the attack on Quebec.

      JOURNAL OF THE MOST REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES IN QUEBEC FROM THE 14TH OF NOVEMBER, 1775, TO THE 7TH OF MAY, 1776. By an officer of the garrison. Printed in the collections of the New York Historical Society for the year 1880. This journal, or one very similar to it in language and contents, appears in “William Smith’s History of Canada, 1815.”

      JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE AND BLOCKADE OF QUEBEC BY THE AMERICAN REBELS, in autumn of 1775 and winter of 1776. Manuscript last noted as in possession of Hon. J. M. Fraser, Esq., who allowed a copy of it to be made for the use of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. Printed by that society in 1875.

      AINSLIE’S JOURNAL. This is a journal by one Thomas Ainslie of the most remarkable occurrences in the Province of Quebec, from the appeaxance of the rebels in September, 1775, until their retreat the 6th of May. “Sit mihi fas audita loqui:” Virgil. 1776. The manuscript is in the Harvard University library. I think it has never been printed. See there, Vol. I. Sparks Manuscripts. It is probably the best British journal extant.

      UNKNOWN AUTHOR’S JOURNAL. I think probably Captain Owen’s. The author was evidently an artillery officer, stationed most of the time on the ramparts. Manuscript also in Sparks Manuscripts.

      JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC, 1775. From the manuscripts of George Chalmers. Bought in London 1843. Journal of the Siege from December 1, 1775. Earliest entry is December 5; the last May 9, 1776.

      JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC IN 1775-76. Edited by W. T. P. Short, London, 1824. Mentioned in Winsor’s “Critical History of America.”

      A NARRATIVE. Written by James Thompson, who was during the siege acting engineer. Is quoted at length by J. M. Lemoine in his “Quebec, Past and Present.” Mr. Thompson’s papers are now in the possession of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.

      FRENCH JOURNALS. John G. Shea, Esq., of New York, brought from Canada two journals in manuscript, written respectively by French notaries; one at Quebec and the other at Three Rivers, “about the Invasions of the Bostonnais. ”

      Le Mémoire de Badeaux, ou Journal cornmencé aux TroisRiviéres le 18 May, 1775. In 1873 the manuscript of this journal was in the possession of M. Amable Berthelot, of Quebec.

      Le Mémoire de Sanguinet, Ou Le Témoin Oculaire.

      Des Extracts du Mémoire de M. Berthelot. It is not known whether the manuscript exists.

      Le Mémoire de M. Lorimer, intitulé: Mes Services.

      These four journals preceding have been copied and printed in M. L’Abbé Verreau’s Invasion du Canada, Montreal, 1873.

      Le Mémoire de B. DArtigny. Abstracts are quoted in Faucher de St. Maurice’s Sketch of Montgomery.

      Appendix B: subsequent careers of members of the expedition

      Perhaps the reader would be interested to hear what fate befell those heroes who thus passed alive through famine, pestilence and battle to secure to their posterity our American institutions and the countless blessings which have fallen to our country since the war of the Revolution. The good steel of which they were made had been well tempered by their sufferings, and a remarkable number became very prominent in the history of the Republic. Almost all the officers, as soon as exchanged, reenlisted.

      Morgan fought in almost every battle of the war, was the hero of Cowpens, and turned the tide for the Americans with his celebrated rifle corps on many a hard-fought fleld. He rose to be a major-general, and was elected a member of Congress. He died at Winchester, Virginia, after a long and painful illness, in 1799.

      Captain Matthew Smith was promoted to a majority. In 1778-9 he served as a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and was at one time acting vice-president of that state. He died at Milton, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1794.

      Lieutenant-Colonel Greene distinguished himself by his heroic defense of Red Bank in 1777, and continued in the service till 1781, when he was attacked in his quarters, near Croton River, N. Y., by a party of refugees, overpowered and barbarously murdered, his corpse mutilated and flung into the woods.

      Of the captains of Greene’s division, Thayer distinguished himself as a commander of the gallant little garrison of Fort Mifflin, lost an eye at Monmouth and retired in 1781 with the rank of major. He was for several years brigadier-general of the militia of Providence county, Rhode Island. He was killed by a fall from his horse in 1800, in the sixty-third year of his age.

      Topham left the army a colonel. He was for many years a deputy to the General Assembly from Newport. He died a natural death in 1793, aged fifty-five years. He had eleven sons and twin daughters. Ten of the sons went to sea; none of these ever returned or were heard of afterwards.

      Major Bigelow, at the head of the 15th Massachusetts, was at Saratoga, Valley Forge and West Point. He died in 1790, aged fifty years.

      Major Meigs was in 1777 made a colonel, and for a brilliant expedition to Long Island that year received the thanks of Congress and a sword. He commanded a regiment under Wayne at the capture of Stony Point. In 1816 he was agent for Indian affairs, and later was the first provisional governor of Ohio. He died January 28, 1823, at the Cherokee Agency, aged eighty-three years.

      Lieutenant Christian Febiger, afterwards colonel of the 2d Virginia, with the 11th Virginia, led one of the assaulting columns at Stony Point. He came to be well known in the army as “Old Denmark” and left the service a brigadier-general by brevet. He served with distinction from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. In 1791 he held the office of treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania. He died in that office in 1796, at fifty. He was captain of the First City Troop of Philadelphia.

      Captain Dearborn, afterwards of Major Scammel’s regiment, fought at Ticonderoga, Monmouth and Saratoga. On Scammel’s death he commanded the regiment. The war over, he settled in Gardiner, Maine, and under President Washington was United States marshal for the district of Maine. He was twice elected to Congress, and was for eight years secretary of war under Jefferson. During Madison’s administration he was collector of the port of Boston. In 1812 he was commissioned major-general in the United States Army, and under President Monroe was its commander-in-chief. In 1822 he was appointed minister to Portugal. He died in Roxbury in 1829, aged seventy-eight yeaxs.

      Ward was commissioned a major in Colonel Christopher Greene’s regiment, fought at Red Bank, participated in the retreat from Long Island, and shared the privations of Valley Forge. Later he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and later still was given a regiment. After the war he became a merchant at Warwick, Rhode Island, subsequently at New York, under the firm name of Samuel Ward and Brother. He died in New York in 1832, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, surviving, I think, all his fellow officers. He had been a member of the Annapolis convention, and of the Hartford convention, where he exerted his influence in behalf of the government. He was also president of the New York Marine Insurance Company.

      Lieutenant-Colonel Enos, after his court martial, withdrew from the army, but afterward accepted a commission, and was at one time, with the rank of brigadier-general, commander of all the troops of his native state, Vermont. But I have not been able to discover that he ever again saw service in the field. He served nearly ten years in the State Legislature, was a commissioner to New Hampshire during the Vermont controversy, and was prominent in the annals of the state after the war. He died in Colchester, Vermont, in 1808, at the ripe age of seventy-two years.

      Captain McCobb, on his return from the expedition, raised a regiment in Lincoln county, was commissioned its colonel, joined Washington’s army at Cambridge, and took part in the Rhode Island campaign. In command of another regiment he took part in the unfortunate expedition against Castine. In the subsequent official investigation into the causes of this failure, it is recorded that McCobb’s command acquitted itself with honor, and after losing some men and officers, he brought away the remainder of his command intact, assisting others of the forces also in retreat. After the war he represented his townsmen as a representative to the general court; and at his death in 1791, at forty-seven years of age, was commander of the military division of Maine, with rank of brigadier-general.

      Dr. Senter built up an extensive practice, but died at forty-six years of age, in 1799, at the height of his reputation and usefulness.

      The Rev. Dr. Spring died in 1819, at seventy-three years of age. On his return from Quebec he left the army, and was a minister of Newburyport for many years. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Missionary Society, of the Andover Theological Seminary and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

      Ensign Charles Porterfield rose to be lieutenant-colonel, and died soon after the battle of Camden from wounds received in the early part of that action.

      Dr. Thomas Gibson died at Valley Forge.

      Captain Eleazar Oswald retired from the army in 1778 a lieutenant-colonel. He participated in the affair at Compo, and did gallant service at Monmouth. Soon after leaving the army he was appointed public printer at Philadelphia. In command of a regiment of artillery in the French Army of Liberty, he served with credit under Dumourier in the battle of Jemappe. He died in the United States of smallpox in 1795.

      Lieutenant Shaw, promoted to a captaincy, was killed at Red Bank. Lieutenant Stevens and William Humphrey became captains in line regiments.

      Boyd was captured, and hideously tortured to death by the Indians in 1779.

      John Joseph Henry became a judge and president of the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania, but a broken constitution carried him to an early grave. On account of injuries received and disease contracted during the campaign, he was unable to accept promotion tendered him when exchanged, and never took the field again.

      Lieutenant Michael Simpson fought at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and White Plains, and after the war was commissioned a brigadier-general in the Pennsylvania Militia.

      Lieutenant Archibald Steele lived to be ninety-one years of age, and died in Philadelphia October 19, 1832. He was at one time appointed deputy quartermaster-general with rank of colonel in the Continental line, and held for some time the position of military store-keeper in Philadelphia.

      James Crouch of Smith’s company rose from the ranks to a colonelcy. Private David Harris, also of Smith’s, became a captain in the Pennsylvania line.

      Sabattis was killed in a fight on the Kennebec with a settler named Ephraim Brown. Natanis fought again on the side of the Americans at Saratoga; what end he met history has not yet revealed.

      Of Captain Handchett’s life, after being exchanged, we have no particulars. He died in 1816, aged seventy-five, at the West Parish in Suffield.

      Of Captain Goodrich I have no account.

      Of the subsequent career of Captains Scott and Williams of Enos’s division I have, as yet found no trace. It would be interesting to learn whether they removed by later acts the impression which their defection created.

      Of Mrs. Jemima Warner or Mrs. Grier I can only find this clue – an entry in Haskell’s Journal, under date of April 18, 1776: “A woman of the Pennsylvania troops was killed to-day by accident – a soldier carelessly snapping his musket, which proved to be loaded.”

      Colonel James Livingston was at the battle of Stillwater, and in command of Verplanck’s Point at the time of Arnold’s treason.

      Major John Brown was killed in 1780, in an ambuscade on the Mohawk.

      Captain John Lamb lived to be severely wounded by another grapeshot at Compo Hill, Conn., in 1777. He fought at Yorktown. After the war he was a member of the New York General Assembly, and was raised to the rank of brigadier-general. He was also collector of the customs at the port of New York. He died in 1800, aged sixty-five years.

      Edward Antill became a lieutenant-colonel in the Continental army.

      Of Colonel Donald Campbell I have no account. Henry states that he was court-martialed for his conduct at Prés de Ville and acquitted.

      As for the King’s officers who so gallantly and steadfastly defended the fortress, Governor Guy Carleton succeeded Sir Henry Clinton in 1781 as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, and so continued until after the treaty of peace. In 1786 he was again appointed governor of Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and was raised to the peerage as a reward for his distinguished services, under the title of Lord Dorchester. He died in 1808, at the age of eighty-five.

      MacLean in 1779 defended successfully the fort in Penobscot, Maine, against Lovell and Saltonstall. He was promoted to be a colonel in 1780.

      Caldwell lived to a green old age and died in Quebec in 1810.

      Appendix C: relics of the expedition

      Many interesting relics of Arnold’s Expedition to Quebec have been found from time to time, along the route of its march. There follows a brief description of some of those which were actually seen by the author, or the existence of which was positively certified to him.

      Philip Clare, a workman’ for Augustus J. P. Dudley, working on a dam at Ledge Falls, near Eustis, in 1895, unearthed in a heap of muck from the bottom of the river an old bayonet; undoubtedly this was one of Arnold’s.

      I was shown by Charles Spirins, who has opened a farm at the first of the second chain of ponds, an ax-head and table knife; the handles were gone and the blade of the knife almost destroyed by rust. The ax-head was such as has now long passed out of use, and resembled an iron tomahawk. Mr. Spirins plowed them up in the field which was Arnold’s camp-ground at that place.

      Mr. Parsons, the proprietor of Parsons’ hotel, near Bog Brook, told me that one of his men had ploughed up from under an old stump the barrel of a queen’s arm with a bayonet. This was only a few years ago. I afterwards learned that the workman’s name was Will Bemis, and that the relic is now in the possession of Edgar Jones, of Stratton, Maine.

      Mr. Kushner, whom I met, was one of the oldest settlers of the Dead River valley, and nearly ninety years of age. He told me that he had found under an elm stump on his farm, opposite Flagstaff and not far from Kushner brook, still another bayonet. It was buried under two feet of soil. This is now in the State House at Augusta, Maine.

      A good many years ago some boys, in swimming at Ledge or Arnold’s Falls, I think the former, found one or two quarts of bullets. They were very much worn by the action of the water and so coated that until they were weighed in the hand one would have taken them for unusually round pebbles. One of these was given me at Eustis.

      As I was passing with my guide over the rocks at Ledge Falls, to get a good point of view for my camera, I saw him stoop and pick up something which resembled a bit of an old glass bottle. It proved to be the flint of a flintlock gun. It was in a path across a ledge, which was almost bare of earth, though patched here and there with moss. A path had been worn across the ledge by log drivers, and the flint bore marks upon it as if it had been turned up by some driver’s cogs. Of course it is presumptuous to claim that this was a relic of Arnold’s Expedition; still flint is an enduring substance, and this piece may have lain on the ledge undisturbed for one hundred and twenty years, or have been washed up by the water more recently during some unusual flood. It was customary to carry large packages of these flints among the army supplies. It is to be borne in mind, too, that at Ledge Falls the army met with its greatest loss of provisions and ammunition.

      With regard to the bateaux, I heard as I passed up the Dead River that several men of that region and of the present generation claim that certain of these bateaux are still to be seen on the bottom of the lakes, or at the bottom of the Arnold River. I was on the lookout, therefore, to trace this story. On Lake Megantic I met a young fellow named Fred Braddock, who, without any leading questions from me, told me the following story. He said that his father, Charles E. Braddock, who used often to follow the old whisky trail over Louise Mountain to Hathan bog, had often told him that he had found a boat there, which he believed was one of Arnold’s bateaux; that he had described the boat as not very large and too old to be of any service, and stated that it was bound with brass nails and staples of a design and character which made him certain that it must be very old. He told me that William Latty, a guide at Three Rivers, could tell me more about it, for he himself had seen the boat. I was unable to find Latty in the short time I had at Three Rivers. The tradition had grown somewhat in definiteness at Three Rivers, and people said that two or three of these bateaux had recently been seen in the Arnold River. If they were under water where the wood would of course withstand decay much longer.

      From a letter reprinted in the edition of Henry’s Journal published by Munsell, we learn that during the survey of the boundary between Maine and Canada in 1844, one of the engineers, while crossing the swampy highlands, observed at one point a hollow sound where he struck his Jacob’s staff into the soil. On scraping away the moss he discovered an entire bateau, built of sawed wood, such as was not indigenous to that locality. It is more than probable that this was one of the bateaux abandoned by Arnold’s men on the trail across the divide.

      In the fall of 1858 a young man passing up the Dead River valley and across the chain of ponds (the head of the river), landing at the Arnold trails, found beside the trail between the Dead River waters and the Chaudiére, the remains of an old musket, apparently having been left standing beside a tree, where it had rotted down. The stock was entirely gone and the barrel and mountings had fallen down together at the foot of the tree. It is conjectured that the musket had been left there by one of Arnold’s soldiers, and the barrel is now in possession of Mr. Columbus Steward, of North Anson, Maine. The following appeared in the “Maine Farmer” in 1877: “A Centennial Relic. – Mr. Sheppard Harville, of Lincolnville, has in his possession a French rifle gun-barrel, that he found over thirty years ago on the Dead River at the foot of Arnold’s Falls, so called from the fact of its being on the route that Arnold marched with his army through the wilderness to Point Levi, Quebec. Mr. Harville, then of Solon, Charles Folsom and others of Skowhegan, Hartley Green and Ara Green were the boatmen on the drive near where this gunbarrel was found by Mr. Harville. When discovered by him on the trail near the falls it was resting against a rock. The stock had entirely rotted off, and it is supposed to have been left there by one of Arnold’s men one hundred years ago last September.”

      The “Maine Standard,” a paper formerly published at Augusta, Maine, contained in its issue of June 28, 1867, the account of a curious discovery made by the workmen in the machine shop of the Edwards cotton mill in that city. In sawing lengthwise a piece of thick lumber, taken from the body of a large rock-maple tree, the saw encountered, near the middle of the log, a pine spile, which it cut off in its progress, and on opening the parts thus sundered, the spile was withdrawn, and the hole found to contain a small bit of paper, carefully folded and plugged up. On opening the paper the following words were recorded:

      1775
      J. B. DUNKIRK
      WITH ARNOLD

      “J. B. Dunkirk” was doubtless one of Arnold’s soldiers or officers, who had the curiosity to bore a hole into a rock-maple tree, deposit his name therein, and confine it there on the doubtful chance of its being brought to light again by some future generation. The tree had grown over the spile eight inches in thickness, and was perfectly sound and solid that distance to the bark. The number of rings in the wood, answering each to a year’s growth, as counted by one of the workmen, was about ninety. The paper is coarse and white-old-fashioned hand-paper – and the words upon it appear to have been written, not in ink, but with a lead pencil. This, perhaps, will account for their preservation.

      The lumber from the tree in which the paper was inserted was purchased of Mr. Columbus Howard of Sidney. Probably the tree grew in that town, which is next above Augusta, on the west side of the river. The interesting relic was deposited among the cabinet of curiosities and antiquities at the State Capitol in Augusta.

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