loo o 
 

 JOURNAL 
 
 OF 
 
 (Cljnrles Carroll of CartolUot 
 
 D i; R I N li HIS 
 
 VISIT TO CANA DA IN 17 7 6, 
 
 ! AS ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FROM (ON OUT 
 
 111 i 1 1) a 111 e nt o t r a it b Notes 
 
 B Y B U ANTZ M A Y E R , 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOC1 1 
 
 B A L T I M O R I. 
 
 1 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN MURPHY, 178 BALTIMORE STREET. 
 
i 
 
JOURNAL 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
( 
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 OF 
 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
 
 DURING HIS 
 
 VISIT TO CANADA IN 1776, 
 
 AS ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FROM CONGRESS 
 
 0 1 
 
 ttHtlj a Memoir anit Notes 
 
 BY BRA NTZ MAYER, 
 
 Cor • Soc. Md. Hi*. Soe. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN MURPHY, 178 BALTIMORE STREET. 
 
 M D C C C X L V. 
 
 
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-five, by 
 Brantz Mayer, for the Maryland Historical Society, in the Clerk’s o ce o tie 
 District Court of Maryland. 
 
 JOHN MURPHY, PRINTER, 
 
 175 LJLaj-«e> street, Baltimore 
 
 Erratum On page 49, seventh line from top, for “ two-sixths ” read two shillings and sixpence. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 EXPEDITION TO CANADA 
 
 IN 
 
 1775 , 1776 . 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 That long line of lakes and rivers which flow, 
 southeast wardly, across our continent, and empty 
 themselves into the Atlantic through the gulf of Saint 
 Lawrence, would seem to form a natural barrier 
 between two nations, marking their geographical 
 limits, if it did not also bound distinctive races. And 
 such, in fact, was really the case with a part of this 
 extensive chain, until the peace of Paris in 1763, when 
 Canada, after the victory of Wolfe, passed from the 
 dominion of France to that of the British crown. 
 
 In March, 1766, the stamp act was repealed; but 
 the English ministry, foiled in its first attempt on the 
 liberties of the American colonies, seemed determined 
 to tease and worry them into rebellion. Taxation 
 by duties was laid in 1767, and Maryland at once 
 took ground against the imposition. Associations for 
 “ non importation” were speedily formed ; but, after 
 existing lor a while, they were abandoned, and local 
 2 
 
6 
 
 U 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 discontents arose in our state that exasperated the 
 people’s feelings against Ministerial oppressions, until 
 they were ripe for the revolt that ultimately broke 
 out.* 
 
 Amongst the earliest demonstrations of a disposition 
 on the part of the colonists to resort to violence, was 
 the attack upon the newly ceded province of Canada. 
 
 The expedition that was sent to the north was 
 deemed, by some persons, of questionable policy, and 
 not a few of our people thought it entirely subversive 
 of the principles upon which we grounded our resist- 
 ance. It might naturally, they alleged, be regarded 
 as a war of conquest , and, as such, was entirely at 
 variance with the spirit of our discontent. 
 
 Such, however, was not a just view of the case. 
 The boundary of the lakes to which we have alluded, 
 formed, in reality, no boundary to British rule, for the 
 sway of the Anglo-Saxon race was now fully estab- 
 lished over the whole of the northern part of the con- 
 tinent. It was obviously proper, therefore, to detract, 
 if possible, from the power of our assailants to harm 
 us on the great watery highway of the lakes and 
 rivers, or to present such an united force of colonial 
 and provincial inhabitants as might counterbalance, in 
 a great measure, the pertinacious loyalists who were 
 disposed to discountenance our appeals for justice. 
 For it will be remembered, that before the declara- 
 tion of our national independence, the warfare was 
 neither against the throne nor the laws of England, 
 but against a reckless and oppressive ministry.! 
 
 * See McMahon’s History of Maryland, vol. i, p. 380. 
 
 fSee Col. Reed’s letter to Washington, and Washington’s replv 
 
 Washington's Writings, vol. iii, p. 347. 1 y ' 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 7 
 
 In taking advantage, therefore, of this general 
 desire to enlist the whole of the British subjects in 
 America in the preservation of their privileges, efforts 
 were justly and fairly made to obtain possession of 
 the keys of the lakes and of the St. Lawrence at 
 Quebec and Montreal. 
 
 As Sir Guy Carleton had manifested a strong dis- 
 position to sustain the ministry against the people, it 
 was hoped that his efforts would thus be neutralized, 
 and an unbroken front of firm and resisting freemen 
 presented to the cabinet and parliament. 
 
 Canada was a province whose citizens had not yet 
 coalesced with the English. In the debate on the 
 Canada bill, in 1774, the widest latitude of opinion 
 was expressed as to the proper government and laws 
 for the conquered province, and the most lamentable 
 ignorance was displayed as to the character and 
 temper of the people.* 
 
 Under the French the spirit of the government had 
 been military. Conquest was the chief object, and 
 the desire of the authorities was to command the 
 lakes, to control the territories on the Ohio, and thus, 
 descending the Mississippi to Louisiana, to embrace 
 the great internal resources of this continent by two 
 gigantic arms, one of which should rest on the St. 
 Lawrence whilst the other controlled the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Canada, therefore, was the citadel and nur- 
 sery of their troops. Large detachments were sent 
 every year to the Ohio and to other interior parts of 
 North America, and, by these annual campaigns, the 
 province was drained of its blood and energy. The 
 people had no time for settlement and its peaceful 
 
 # See Cavendish’s Debates on the Canada bill in 1774. 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 results. Marriages were prevented, and numbers 
 perished in the toilsome services to which they were 
 devoted among the savages of the remote wilderness. 
 But, after the conquest by Great Britain, the aspect 
 of affairs was changed. The government became 
 one of peace, and the inhabitants not greatly aug- 
 mented in numbers by emigration — were permitted to 
 cultivate their lands, whilst the judges took care not 
 to interfere essentially with their laws and customs* 
 Besides this, the policy of England towards Canada 
 was wise in another respect. In October, 1763, a 
 royal proclamation was made, by which the province 
 of Quebec was limited and bounded ; and on the 13th 
 of June, 1774, parliament passed the “ Quebec act,” 
 by which those limits were enlarged, and, his majes- 
 ty’s subjects professing the religion of the church of 
 Rome, were guarantied the free exercise of their 
 worship, whilst their priests were protected in the 
 full discharge of all their functions. 
 
 Thus Canada, though a quasi foreign country, was 
 a contented one, and it behooved our statesmen to 
 take heed lest her people, still alive to their ancient 
 military glory, might annoy or distract our frontier. 
 The warfare, therefore, that we waged within her 
 borders, was one, in fact, of political propagandism, 
 in which the people, unfortunately for themselves as 
 the sequel proved, took but little interest. 
 
 We will not dwell, now, on the successes of our 
 troops in Canada up to the spring of 1776. So many 
 works have been written on the history of that period 
 and on the biography of the eminent men who led our 
 
 See “ Debates,” &c., pp. 104, 105. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 9 
 
 armies, that it would be useless, in this sketch, to 
 review the earlier part of our campaign. 
 
 But after the successes of Arnold and Allen at 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the former of these 
 officers pushed on towards Quebec through the wil- 
 derness. By the capture of a small fleet at Sorel, 
 under General Prescott, the Americans had gained 
 command of the St. Lawrence above Quebec, and, 
 as all the British posts in Canada were under our 
 control, except the capital, that now became the 
 object of eager enterprise.* 
 
 On the 31st of December, 1775, Montgomery 
 stormed that, stronghold, and fell in the attack. Our 
 troops were unsuccessful in effecting a lodgment ; but 
 Arnold, on whom the command devolved, sat down 
 resolutely before the capital in the depth of winter, 
 and with the small remnant of his troops besieged a 
 Ministerial force of nearly double his number. 
 
 Reinforcements were sent to our colonial general, 
 who had been immediately promoted for his gallantry, 
 and troops that carried their own provisions during a 
 perilous march through the forests on snow shoes, 
 reached him from Vermont, New Hampshire, and 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 With this fragmentary, undisciplined, ill-fed, and 
 miserable array, he kept his ground until spring. 
 Meanwhile, Wooster had quietly rested during the 
 long and arduous winter, in the secure and undisputed 
 Montreal. “A state of repose,” says Mr. Sparks 
 “ which his countrymen were not prepared to expect 
 from a man who had gained the reputation of a bold 
 and active officer in the last vvar.”t 
 
 * See Sparks’ Life of Arnold. f See Sparks’ Life of Arnold, p. 55. 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 However, on the 1st of April, 1776, he left his win- 
 ter quarters for Quebec, and, as he outranked Arnold, 
 took command immediately on his arrival. Arnold, 
 who was no doubt discontented at not being permitted 
 to continue in authority at a season when he might 
 have struck a daring and effectual blow, forthwith 
 departed for Montreal, and left this weak and inju- 
 dicious officer to conduct the siege * 
 
 Canada was thus, in fact, in the possession of our 
 colonial troops, yet the tenure was rather nominal 
 than real. It was a conflict between the military on 
 both sides, whilst the people of the province — the sub- 
 ject matter of all available controversy — had as yet 
 manifested no ardent desire to join us. 
 
 Such was the state of things early in the memora- 
 ble year of ’76. But the feeble grasp with which we 
 held that remote province was not long to be con- 
 tinued. On the first of April, Col. Hazen, who had 
 taken command at Montreal, on the departure of 
 General Wooster, and before the arrival of Arnold, 
 thus wrote to General Schuyler : 
 
 “ You are not unacquainted with the friendly dis- 
 position of the Canadians when General Montgomery 
 first penetrated into the country. The ready assist- 
 ance they gave on all occasions, by men, carriages, 
 or provisions, was most remarkable. Even when he 
 was before Quebec, many parishes offered their ser- 
 vices in the reduction of that fortress, which were at 
 that time thought unnecessary. But his most unfor- 
 tunate fate, added to other incidents, has caused such 
 a change in their disposition, that we no longer look 
 
 * See M ;- CarroU ’ s lZ r ™ ] ’ of the 25th of and note, for the Com 
 rmss.oners’ opinion of Wooster’s conduct in Canada. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 11 
 
 upon them as friends, but, on the contrary, as waiting 
 an opportunity to join our enemies. That no observa- 
 tions of my own may remain obscure, I beg leave to 
 observe that I think the clergy, or guardians of the 
 souls and conductors of the bodies of these enthusiasts, 
 have been neglected, perhaps, in some instances, ill 
 used. Be that as it will, they are unanimous, though 
 privately, against our cause, and I have too much rea- 
 son to fear that many of them, with other people of 
 some consequence, have carried on a correspondence 
 the whole winter with General Carleton in Quebec, 
 and are now plotting our destruction. The peasantry 
 in general have been ill used. They have, in some 
 instances, been dragooned with the point of the bay- 
 onet to supply wood for the garrison at a lower rate 
 than the current price. For carriages and many other 
 articles furnished, illegible certificates have been 
 given without signature; the one-half, of consequence, 
 rejected by the quartermaster-general. It is true, 
 payment has been promised from time to time ; yet 
 they look upon such promises as vague, their labor 
 and property lost, and the congress or united colonies 
 bankrupt. And, in a more material point, they have 
 not seen sufficient force in the country to protect them. 
 These patters furnish very strong arguments to be 
 made i4e of by our enemies. With respect to the 
 better s«brt of people, both French and English, seven- 
 eighths are tories, who would wish to see our throats 
 cut, and perhaps would readily assist in doing it. 
 
 “ You may remember, sir, in a conversation with 
 you at Albany, I urged the necessity of sending im- 
 mediately to Canada able generals, a respectable 
 army, a committee of congress, a suitable supply of 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 hard cash, and a printer. Indeed, I had before repre- 
 sented those measures in person to congress, at least, 
 to the committee of congress, and we have since been 
 flattered, from time to time, that we should have one 
 or all of these essentials.”* 
 
 The commissioners, alluded to by Colonel Hazen, 
 had already been appointed by congress ; and, on the 
 day subsequent to the date of his letter, had departed 
 from the city of New York on their way to Montreal. 
 
 On the 15th of February, ’76, it was “ Resolved 
 that a committee of three — two of whom to be mem- 
 bers of congress — be appointed to repair to Canada, 
 there to pursue such instructions as shall be given 
 them by that body.”! 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Chas. 
 Carroll of Carrollton, were chosen for this purpose 
 (the two first named being members), and, by a spe- 
 cial resolution, the last mentioned gentleman was de- 
 sired “ to prevail on Mr. John Carroll to accompany 
 the committee to Canada to assist them in such mat- 
 ters as they shall think useful.” 
 
 This gentleman, who afterwards became the first 
 Roman Catholic Archbishop of the United States, had 
 already received holy orders in Europe. He was a 
 Jesuit of distinguished theological attainments, and 
 was celebrated for his amiable manners and polished 
 address. Both of the Carrolls were educated in 
 Europe, and had formed connections of the most 
 intimate kind with the people of the old world. The 
 Rev. John Carroll had been private tutor in the family 
 
 *See Washington’s Writings, vol. iii, p. 361 , note, 
 f See Journals of Congress, vol. ii, p. 62 , edition of I 860 . 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 13 
 
 of Lord Stourton, with whom he made the tour of 
 Europe after the dissolution of the Jesuits, and might, 
 therefore, have been supposed to lean to the side of 
 loyalty; but all the members of his family had early 
 manifested their partiality for the colonies. After 
 pursuing his studies in the Temple, and returning to 
 Maryland, Mr. Charles Carroll of Carrollton had dis- 
 tinguished himself by his controversy with Daniel 
 Dulany', the great legal luminary of Maryland, on the 
 proclamation and vestry questions, * and had inti- 
 mated his resolution to sustain his native land against 
 the oppressions of the mother country. The one w r as 
 an humble but learned priest ; the other an independ- 
 ent lawyer of ample fortune and promising talents ; 
 but both staked, at once, their lives and honor on the 
 issues of the day, and were thus prepared to take 
 conspicuous parts in the approaching revolution. 
 
 Whilst congress was anxious to aid the cool judg- 
 ment of Franklin by the intrepidity of Chase and the 
 courtly address of Carroll, it went still further, and 
 requested this polished churchman to unite himself 
 with the expedition, “ and assist the commissioners in 
 such things as they might think useful.” The object 
 of this, although not entered on the journals of con- 
 gress or expressed in any formal preamble to the 
 resolutions, is perfectly evident. In the debates on 
 the Canada bill, in 1774, we are informed that there 
 were one hundred and fifty thousand Catholics, and 
 only three hundred and sixty Protestants within the 
 government of the province of (Quebec, t and it was 
 
 * See McMahon’s History of Maryland, vol. i, p. 388, and Green’s 
 Gazette, 1773. 
 
 fSee Debates, &,c., p. 103. 
 
 3 
 
J 
 
 14 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 therefore believed that one of the surest means of 
 prompt success with such a mass of Romanists, was 
 to show them, by influential men of their own creed, 
 that their brethren, over the borders, were up in arms 
 and ready to do battle in defence of religious and 
 political liberty. Three of these representatives came 
 from a province originally founded by tolerant Catho- 
 lics, who had received a tolerant charter even from a 
 bigoted king.* 
 
 We have seen that the Rev. Mr. Carroll was an 
 unquestioned patriot, agreeing with the liberalists in 
 all their views; yet it may be asserted that he was 
 not justified in joining an expedition that might kindle 
 the flame of religious war on the Catholic frontier. 
 Such, undoubtedly, was also Mr. Carroll’s opinion ; 
 and he felt, as deeply as any man in the colonies, that 
 religion should never become an auxiliary of strife, 
 and that it was his duty, as her minister, to allay, if 
 possible, the angry spirit of the times, and to prevail 
 on the disaffected subjects of Britain to adhere to 
 their allegiance. 
 
 In order, therefore, to estimate fully the delicacy of 
 Mr. Carroll’s position, we must recollect that at the 
 
 * We hold the opinion that no act could have been legally passed 
 by our colonial legislature in Maryland, in conformity with the char- 
 ter of Charles, that was not tolerant in its character to all religion- 
 ists. Our opinion is founded on a clause in the twenty-second section 
 of that instrument, which declares that the charter shall be expounded 
 always in the most favorable and beneficial manner for the benefit of 
 Lord Baltimore, his heirs and assisrns. — “Proviso semner n..n«I nulla 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 15 
 
 period when congress required his services, the pros- 
 pect of reconciliation with the king was not entirely 
 occluded. Appeals, protests, and remonstrances had 
 been tried in vain. All the ordinary efforts of per- 
 suasion had failed to produce redress. In such a state 
 of things it would seem but reasonable that a patri- 
 otic priest, who regarded his duty to his country as 
 next to that he owed his God, and who was zealous 
 for the religious as well as the political freedom of his 
 brethren, should seize upon so favorable an occasion 
 to render a service of lasting value to the large and 
 conquered mass of Canadian Catholics. He was, 
 perhaps, about to obtain a boon for himself ; he de- 
 sired that others should participate in its benefits. 
 And he naturally felt anxious that, when civil and 
 religious liberty were for ever secured to the colonies, 
 the subjects north of the lakes should, at the same 
 time, obtain a permanent concession of fair and equal 
 laws. 
 
 Mr. Carroll was, therefore, very properly desirous 
 to identify Canada with our struggle or to procure 
 her neutrality ; as, from her imposing size, her com- 
 manding geographical position, her foreign population, 
 and her recent disruption from France — her resolved 
 attitude of defiance or indifference would, in all prob- 
 ability, strike terror into the minds of the headstrong 
 Ministry ; and thus, by opposing the formidable ani- 
 mosity of an united continent, we should gain our 
 ends and nip the war in its ripening bud* Mr. Car- 
 roll’s views, therefore, were eminently pacific, and 
 their wisdom has since been fully proved. The col- 
 
 *See U. S. Catholic Magazine, vol. iv, p. 251, and Brent’s Biography 
 of Archbishop Carroll, p. 69. 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 onies obtained their independence, whilst Canada 
 remains a discontented and refractory province of the 
 British empire.* 
 
 It is a singular thing that Dr. Franklin, who now, 
 at the advanced age of seventy, was sent on this 
 wild and fatiguing journey to wrest Canada from 
 England or neutralize it, had been one of the first, 
 seventeen years before, to urge its conquest upon the 
 mother country. When he was in London in 1759, 
 although he had no interviews with the minister, his 
 conversation on American affairs was always respect- 
 fully heeded by men in power, and “ it has been said 
 on good authority,” declares Mr. Sparks, “ that the 
 expedition against Canada, and its consequences in 
 the victory of Wolfe at Quebec and the conquest of 
 that country, may be chiefly ascribed to Franklin. 
 He disapproved the policy, by which the ministry had 
 hitherto been guided, of carrying on the war against 
 the French in the heart of Germany, where, if suc- 
 cessful, it would end in no real gain to the British 
 nation, and no essential loss to the enemy. In all 
 
 One of the writer’s earliest recollections is of the funeral of this ex- 
 cellent prelate, which was celebrated with great pomp at Baltimore in 
 lelo, and attended by distinguished citizens and mourning poor of all 
 Christian denominations. The loss of Archbishop Carroll was not a 
 loss alone to the church over which he presided, and which he may be 
 
 S r iD the U “ ited States ’ Men of al1 <^eds loved 
 
 him, for his life had been one of tolerance, charity, and affection. His 
 
 cZZ’ ™ T St and P relate ’ had been conceived in that spirit of 
 hal diStv and 6 ^ 0 " Whl f Cl !’ Whilst if “Pheld with firmness the essen- 
 of o he fe V °, f h ‘ S ° Wn Creed ’ Sti11 rested the professors 
 
 This good biThon'wh" 11 d *? a libera ‘ a “ d unbi go‘ed consideration. 
 
 i i b*,™ l0 " S mourne d, and will be long remem- 
 ! d ' ed ln thiS "* AP eighty, on the 3d 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 17 
 
 companies, and on all occasions, he urged the reduc- 
 tion of Canada as an object of the utmost importance. 
 It would inflict a blow upon the French power in 
 America, from which it could never recover, and 
 which would have a lasting influence in advancing: 
 the prosperity of the British colonies. These senti- 
 ments he conveyed to the minister’s friends, with such 
 remarks on the practicability of the enterprise, and 
 the manner of conducting it, as his intimate know- 
 ledge of the state of things in America enabled him to 
 communicate. They made the impression he desired, 
 and the result verified his prediction.”* 
 
 The same ripe judgment that saw the importance 
 of Canada for England in order to give her control 
 over the lakes and the west, saw it for the colonies 
 also ; and thus Franklin was most discreetly selected 
 for this responsible mission. 
 
 (Hljaptcr II. 
 
 On the 2d of April, 1776, Franklin, Ciiase, and 
 the Carrolls, properly accoutred for so fatiguing a 
 journey of over four hundred miles, departed from the 
 city of New York in a sloop for Albany. 
 
 These gentlemen had, of course, been duly com- 
 missioned by congress “ to promote or to form a union 
 between the colonies and the people of Canada 
 and on the 20th of March they received their ample 
 instructions. 
 
 * Franklin’s Writings, vol. i, pp. 248, 257. 
 
18 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 They were told to represent to the Canadians that 
 the arms of the united colonies had been carried 
 into that province for the purpose of frustrating the 
 designs of the British court against our common 
 liberties; that we expected not only to defeat the 
 hostile machinations of Governor Carleton against us, 
 but that we should put it in the power of our Cana- 
 dian brethren to pursue such measures for securing 
 their own freedom and happiness as a generous love 
 of liberty and sound policy should dictate to them. 
 
 They were desired to inform them that, in the 
 judgment of congress, their interest and that of the 
 colonies were inseparably united. That it was im- 
 possible we could be reduced to a servile submission 
 to Great Britain without their sharing in our fate ; 
 and, on the other hand, if we obtained, as we doubted 
 not we should, a full establishment of our rights, it 
 depended wholly on their choice, whether they would 
 participate with us in those blessings, or still remain 
 subject to every act of tyranny which British minis- 
 ters should please to exercise over them. 
 
 They were told to urge all such arguments as their 
 prudence suggested to enforce our opinion concerning 
 the mutual interests of the two countries, and to con- 
 vince them of the impossibility of the w r ar being con- 
 cluded to the disadvantage of the colonies, if we 
 wisely and vigorously cooperated with each other. 
 To convince them of the uprightness of our intentions 
 towards them, they were to declare that it was the 
 inclination of congress that the people of Canada 
 should set up such a form of government as would be 
 most likely, in their judgment, to promote their hap- 
 piness. And they were, in the strongest terms, to 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 19 
 
 assure them that it was our earnest desire to adopt 
 them into our union as a sister colony, and to secure 
 the same system of mild and equal laws for them and 
 for ourselves, with only such local differences as might 
 be agreeable to each colony respectively. 
 
 They were to assure the Canadians that we had 
 no apprehension that the French would take any part 
 icith Great Britain ; but that it was their interest , and , 
 we had reason to believe, their inclination, to cultivate 
 a friendly intercourse icith these colonies. 
 
 From this and such other reasons as might appear 
 most proper, they were charged to urge the necessity 
 the people were under of immediately taking some 
 decisive step to put themselves within the protection 
 of the united colonies. For expediting such a measure, 
 they were to explain our method of collecting the 
 sense of the people and conducting our affairs regu- 
 larly by committees of observation and inspection in 
 the several districts, and by conventions and com- 
 mittees of safety in the several colonies. These 
 modes were to be recommended to them. The na- 
 ture and principles of government among freemen 
 were to be fully explained, developing, in contrast to 
 these, the base, cruel, and insidious designs involved 
 in the late act of parliament for making a more effect- 
 ual provision for the government of the province of 
 Quebec.* Motives of glory and interest were to be 
 proposed as stimulants to the Canadians to unite in 
 a contest by which they must be deeply affected, 
 and they were to be taught to aspire to a portion of 
 that power by which they were ruled, and not to remain 
 the mere spoils and 'prey of their conquerors. 
 
 * The “ Quebec act,” passed June, 1774. 
 
a 
 
 20 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR- 
 
 They were directed, further, to declare that we 
 held sacred the lights of conscience ; and should prom- 
 ise to the whole people , solemnly , in the name of con- 
 gress, the free and undisturbed exercise of their religion; 
 and to the clergy the full , perfect , and peaceable pos- 
 session and enjoyment of all their estates, that the 
 government of every thing relative to their creed and 
 clergy should be left , entirely, in the hands of the good 
 people of that province, and such legislature as they 
 should constitute ; provided, however , that all other de- 
 nominations of Christians should be equally entitled to 
 hold offices, and enjoy civil privileges and the free exer- 
 cise of their religion , as well as be totally exempt from 
 the paxyment of any tithes or taxes for the support of 
 religion. 
 
 They were desired to press for a convention of the 
 people, a speedy organization of government, and 
 union with the colonies. The terms of the union 
 should be similar to those of the other colonies ; and, 
 if our terms were acceded to, they were to promise 
 our defence of the Canadians against all enemies. 
 
 A free press was to be established , and the commis- 
 sioners were to settle all disputes betwixt the Cana- 
 dians and continental troops. They were to reform 
 all abuses, to enforce peace and good order, and were 
 empowered to sit and vote in councils of war; to 
 erect or demolish fortifications, and to suspend mili- 
 tary officers from the exercise of their commissions 
 until the pleasure of congress should be known. 
 
 In additional instructions, they were empowered 
 and directed to encourage the trade of Canada with 
 the Indians, and to assure the Canadians that their 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 21 
 
 foreign commerce should be put on the same footing 
 as that of the united colonies.* 
 
 Armed with their commission and these instruc- 
 tions, our travellers departed, as we have seen, on the 
 2d of April, from the city of New York; but it was 
 not until the 29th — nearly a month afterwards — that 
 they reached their destination at Montreal. The 
 details of this expedition will be found in the accom- 
 panying diary of Mr. Corroll of Carrollton, and the 
 reader can not fail to be delighted with the patient 
 and interesting narrative of the journalist. 
 
 It seems from this document, and the correspond- 
 ence of Franklin, that the Doctor remained in Mon- 
 treal until the 11th of May, — a few days only after the 
 abandonment of Quebec by our troops, — and was 
 joined, on the following morning, by the Rev. Mr. 
 John Carroll at St. John’s. Dr. Franklin’s health 
 had suffered greatly by the journey, and he soon 
 perceived that no efforts of his could avail in Canada. 
 On the contrary, he saw that public opinion was 
 setting strongly against the colonies, that the army 
 was in wretched condition, that the mouth of the St. 
 Lawrence was lost, and that powerful reinforcements 
 would probably soon arrive from abroad. He there- 
 fore left Canada to younger and more hopeful men, 
 and departed with his clerical friend, who had been 
 equally unsuccessful. 
 
 The object of this mission was doubtless two-lbld: 
 first, to induce the Catholics to join us, or remain 
 neutral ; and, secondly, to make such military de- 
 monstrations as would secure us the province in spite 
 
 * See these instructions at large in the Atner. Archives, vol. v, p. 411. 
 
 4 
 
J 
 
 22 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR- 
 
 of its people. To the first of these objects the Rev. 
 Mr. Carroll immediately addressed himself, and it 
 seems that all his diplomacy proved ineffectual within 
 ten days after his arrival at Montreal. 
 
 “ While the commissioners were applying them- 
 selves,” says Mr. Campbell in his excellent memoir 
 now publishing,* “ with their characteristic ardor, to 
 the fulfilment of their trust, the Rev. Mr. Carroll, 
 whose exertions were of a different character, was 
 diligently employed in visiting the clergy, and con- 
 ferring with individuals among them. He explained 
 to them the nature of the differences between Eng- 
 land and the united colonies, showing that the resist- 
 ance of the latter was caused bv invasions of their 
 
 «/ 
 
 charters, and violations of well known and long 
 recognised principles of the British constitution. To 
 this the clergy replied that, since the acquisition of 
 Canada by the British government, its inhabitants 
 had no aggressions to complain of; that, on the con- 
 trary, government had faithfully complied with all 
 the stipulations of the treaty, and had in fact sanc- 
 tioned and protected the ancient laws and customs of 
 Canada, even so far as to allow the French judicial 
 organization and forms of law with a delicacy that 
 demanded their respect and gratitude. The Rev. Mr. 
 
 * See Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll, by B. U. Campbell.— U. 
 S. Catholic Magazine , vol. iii, p. 244* &,c. 
 
 ^ Mr. Campbell states, in a letter to me, that “ the part taken by the 
 Rev. Mr. Carroll in Canada was communicated to him by Dr. Fen- 
 wick, bishop of Boston, a personal friend of Archbishop Carroll, who, 
 in a visit to Canada, met an ao-prl Cnn-ulian i i 
 
 to Canada, met an aged Canadian Driest who bar! spph Dr 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 23 
 
 Carroll then represented to them that congress had 
 expressly stipulated that if the Canadians would 
 unite with the states in the assertion of their consti- 
 tutional rights, their religion, its institutions, and the 
 property of the religious orders and communities 
 should be protected and guarantied ; and that Catho- 
 lics, instead of being merely tolerated, as by England, 
 should have equal rights with the professors of all 
 other religions. To these assurances the Canadians 
 replied that, on the score of religious liberty, the 
 British government had left them nothing to complain 
 of, or to desire ; that they were then in possession of 
 all the ecclesiastical property which they had held at 
 the time of the cession of Canada, that their nume- 
 rous and important missions were flourishing, and their 
 religious societies felt entire confidence in the protec- 
 tion of the government, whose officers carried their 
 courtesy and respect so far as to pay military honors 
 to the public religious exercises, a conspicuous evi- 
 dence of which was, that the government actually 
 furnished a military escort to accompany the grand 
 processions on the festival of Corpus Christi. And, 
 therefore, that upon the well established principle 
 that allegiance is due to protection, the clergy 
 could not teach that neutrality was consistent with 
 the allegiance due to such ample protection as Great 
 Britain had shown the Catholics of Canada. 
 
 “The judicious and liberal policy of the British 
 government to the Catholics had succeeded in in- 
 spiring them with sentiments of loyalty, which the 
 conduct of the people and the public bodies of some of 
 the united colonies had served to strengthen and con- 
 firm. It was remembered, and stated to the Rev. Mr. 
 
24 introductory memoir. 
 
 Carroll, that, in the colonies whose liberality he was 
 now avouching, the Catholic religion had not been 
 tolerated hitherto. Priests were excluded under 
 severe penalties, and Catholic missionaries among 
 the Indians rudely and cruelly treated. His explana- 
 tion that these harsh measures were the result, in a 
 great part., of the laws of the royal government, did 
 not satisfy the Canadians of the favorable dispositions 
 of those who, though prompt and valiant in the de- 
 fence of their political rights, had never manifested a 
 correspondent sensibility in support of the sacred 
 rights of conscience when Catholics were concerned. 
 The friends of the royal government had assiduously 
 pointed out inconsistencies between the address of the 
 continental congress to the people of Great Britain 
 and that addressed to the people of Canada. 
 
 “By the ‘Quebec act,’ passed by parliament., it 
 was provided that, his majesty’s subjects professing 
 the religion of the church of Rome, of and in the said 
 province of Quebec, may have, hold, and enjoy the 
 free exercise of the religion of the church of Rome, 
 &c., and that the clergy of the said church may hold, 
 receive, and enjoy their accustomed dues and rights, 
 with respect to such persons only as shall profess the 
 said religion. They were also excused from taking 
 the oath required by the statute of I Elizabeth, or 
 any other oath substituted by other acts in the place 
 thereof, &c. 
 
 “Unfortunately the address of congress to the 
 people of Great Britain, adopted the 21st of October 
 1 7 74, had used the following language in reference 
 to the £ Quebec act.’ 
 
 “‘Nor can we suppress our astonishment that a 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 25 
 
 British parliament should ever consent to establish 
 in that country a religion lhat has deluged your island 
 in blood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, 
 murder, and rebellion through every part of the 
 world.’ And ‘ that we think the legislature of Great 
 Britain is not authorized by the constitution to estab- 
 lish a religion fraught with sanguinary and impious 
 tenets,’ &c. 
 
 “After sentiments which did their religion so much 
 injustice, the Canadian clergy were not disposed to 
 receive with much favor the following declarations of 
 the same congress in their ‘Address to the inhabitants 
 of the province of Quebec.’ ‘ We are too well ac- 
 quainted with the liberality of sentiment distinguish- 
 ing your nation, to imagine that difference of religion 
 will prejudice you against a hearty amity with us. 
 You know that the transcendent nature of freedom 
 elevates those who unite in her cause above all such 
 low-minded infirmities. The Swiss cantons furnish a 
 memorable proof of this truth. Their union is com- 
 posed of Roman Catholic and Protestant states, living 
 in the utmost concord and peace with one another, 
 and thereby enabled, ever since they bravely vindi- 
 cated their freedom, to defy and defeat every tyrant 
 that has invaded them.’ ” * 
 
 * “ Nothing can exhibit more clearly the bad effects, upon the Cana- 
 dians, of the address to the British people, than the following contempo- 
 raneous letter, comprised among the revolutionary documents recently 
 published by order of congress. 
 
 “ Extract of a letter from Canada, dated Montreal, March 24, 1775. 
 
 “‘The address from the continental congress attracted the notice of 
 some of the principal Canadians; it was soon translated into very tole- 
 rable French. The decent manner in which the religious matters were 
 touched, the encomiums on the French nation, flattered a people fond of 
 compliments. They begged the translator, as he had succeeded so well. 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Carroll, having thus failed in his part 
 of the mission, joined Dr. Franklin and returned to 
 the south. Meanwhile, however, Messrs. Chase and 
 Carroll of Carrollton had been busy with the military 
 part of their embassy. On the day after their arrival 
 at Montreal they attended a council of war,* in which 
 it was resolved to fortify Jaques Cartier, — the Falls 
 of Richelieu, an important post between Quebec and 
 Montreal, — and to build six gondolas at Chamblay, of 
 a proper size to carry heavy cannon, and to be under 
 the direction of Arnold. But disasters thickened 
 around the insurgents. The smallpox had broken 
 out among the troops, and was making deep inroads 
 upon their scanty numbers. The Canadians showed 
 no symptoms of sympathy with the colonists, and, to 
 crown the whole, the worst news was soon received 
 from the besiegers at Quebec. 
 
 On the 1st of May General Thomas had taken 
 command at the capital, and found by the returns 
 that, out of nineteen hundred men, there were not 
 more than a thousand, including officers, who were fit 
 for duty ; all the rest were invalids, chiefly afflicted 
 with smallpox. There were several posts to be de- 
 
 to try his hand on that addressed to Great Britain. He had equal suc- 
 cess in this, and read his performance to a numerous audience. But 
 when he came to that part which treats of the new modelling of the 
 province, draws a picture of the Catholic religion, and Canadian man- 
 ners, they could not contain their resentment, nor express it but in broken 
 curses. ‘ O the perfidious double-faced congress ! Let us bless and obey 
 our benevolent prince, whose humanity is consistent, and extends to all 
 re lgtons; let us abhor all who would seduce us from our loyalty, by 
 acts that would dishonor a Jesuit, and whose addresses, like their re- 
 
 ii“ p!23T» ' Ve th6ir ° Wn ° bjeCtS -’ Archives, vol. 
 
 '* See American Archives, vol. v, p. 1166 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 27 
 
 fended by this trifling force, and at such distances 
 from each other that not more than three hundred 
 men could be rallied to the relief of any one of them, 
 should it be assailed by the whole force of the enemy. 
 Besides this, there were but one hundred and fifty 
 pounds of powder, and only six days’ provisions in the 
 camp, whilst their French neighbors were so disaf- 
 fected towards the colonists that supplies were pro- 
 cured with the greatest difficulty. 
 
 On the fifth, a council of war was held, and it was 
 resolved to remove the invalids, artillery, batteaux, 
 and stores higher up the river, so as to prevent our 
 being cut off by water from the interior posts in the 
 event of the arrival of reinforcements to the enemy. 
 But, on the evening of the same day, intelligence was 
 received in the American camp that fifteen ships 
 were forty leagues below Quebec, hastening up the 
 river ; and early next morning five of them hove in 
 sight. 
 
 General Thomas* immediately gave orders to em- 
 bark the artillery and sick in the batteaux, whilst 
 the enemy began to land their troops. About noon 
 a body of the British, a thousand strong, formed into 
 two divisions in columns of six deep, and supported 
 with a train of six pieces of cannon, attacked our 
 sentinels and main guard. Our officers made a stand 
 for a moment, on the plains, with about two hundred 
 and fifty men and one field piece only, when the order 
 for retreat was given, and our encampment was pre- 
 cipitately deserted. In the confusion all our cannon 
 and ammunition fell into the enemy’s hands, and it is 
 believed that about two hundred of our invalids were 
 
 * He died of smallpox soon after the retreat to Sorel. 
 
28 introductory memoir. 
 
 made prisoners. Following the course of the river, 
 our broken army fled towards Montreal, and, halting 
 for a while at Deschambault, finally retreated along 
 the St. Lawrence, until they made a stand at Sorel.* 
 And thus Quebec was lost for ever to the colonists. 
 
 Meantime the commissioners had kept up a faithlul 
 correspondence with congress, and they continued it 
 until their departure from Canada. Their manu- 
 script letters, preserved in the department at Wash- 
 ington, are dated on the 1st, 8th, 10th, 16th, and 27th 
 of May.f The last of these, perhaps, is the most 
 interesting of the series, and, as it gives the results ol 
 their examinations, we shall let it speak lor itself, 
 especially as the “written report” made to congress 
 by Messrs. Chase and Carroll, on the 12th ol June, 
 1776, could not be found in Washington even after 
 the most diligent search. 
 
 “ Montreal , 21th May, 1776. 
 
 “ The Commissioners in Canada 
 
 “ To the President of Congress : 
 
 ####* * # 
 
 “ In our last we informed you of the deplorable 
 state of the army ; matters have not mended since. 
 We went to the mouth of Sorel last week, where we 
 found all things in confusion ; there is little or no dis- 
 cipline among your troops, nor can any be kept up 
 while the practice of enlisting for a twelvemonth con- 
 tinues ; the general officers are all of this opinion. 
 
 ' bee the letters of General Thomas to the Commissioners, May 7th, 
 1776; and of General Arnold to General Schuyler, May 10, 177G.— 
 American Archives, vol. vi, pp. 451, 452 , about to be published. 
 
 t See American Archives, vols. v and vi. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 29 
 
 Your army is badly paid ; and so exhausted is your 
 credit that even a cart can not be procured without 
 ready money or force. We will give you an instance 
 of the lowness of your credit. Three barrels of gun- 
 powder were ordered from Chamblay to Montreal ; this 
 powder was brought from Chamblay to a ferry, about 
 three miles off, where it would have remained had 
 we not luckily passed by, and, seeing the distress of 
 the officer, undertaken to pay ready and hard money 
 for the hire of a cart to convey it to Longucil. The 
 array is in a distressed condition, and is in want of 
 the most necessary articles — meat, bread, tents, shoes, 
 stockings, shirts, &c. The greatest part of those who 
 fled from Quebec left all their baggage behind them, 
 or it was plundered by those whose times were out, 
 and have since left Canada. We are informed by 
 Colonel Allen that the men who, from pretended indis- 
 position, had been excused from doing duty, were the 
 foremost in the flight, and carried off such burdens on 
 their backs as hearty and stout men would labor under. 
 
 “With difficulty three hundred tents, and about 
 two hundred camp-kettles, were procured here, and 
 sent to the Sorel for the use of the army, and were 
 delivered, as we were informed, to one Major Fuller, 
 who acted in the room of Mr. Campbell, deputy quar- 
 termaster-general, who had joined the army at the 
 Sorel but a day or two before our arrival, where, 
 among other instances of mismanagement, we give 
 the following: Colonel Nicholson’s regiment, consist- 
 ing only of one hundred men, received thirty tents and 
 thirty-one camp-kettles; Colonel Porter’s regiment, 
 not exceeding that number, received fifty-six tents 
 and thirty-three kettles. 
 
30 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 
 
 “ Your army in Canada do not exceed four thou- 
 sand; above four hundred are sick with different dis- 
 orders ; three-fourths of the army have not had the 
 smallpox. The greater part of Creator)? s, Bond's, 
 and Burrell’s regiments have been lately inoculated. 
 There are about eight tons of gunpowder in the colony. 
 To evince the great distress we are reduced to for 
 want of bread, we must inform you that we were 
 obliged to buy thirty loaves of bread of our baker to 
 feed Colonel De Haas ' 1 detachment, which entered 
 this town Friday night, on their way to join Ceneral 
 Arnold at La Chine, and who could not be supplied 
 by the commissary. Such is our extreme want of 
 flour that we were yesterday obliged to seize by force 
 fifteen barrels to supply this garrison with bread. 
 Previous to this seizure a general order was issued to 
 the town-major to wait on the merchants, or others 
 having provisions or merchandise for sale, requesting 
 a delivery of what our troops are in immediate want 
 of, and requiring him to give a receipt, expressing 
 the quantity delivered ; for the payment of which the 
 faith of the united colonies is pledged by your com- 
 missioners. Nothing but the most urgent necessity 
 can justify such harsh measures ; but men with arms 
 in their hands will not starve when provisions can be 
 obtained by force. To prevent a general plunder, 
 which might end in the massacre of your troops, and 
 ot many of the inhabitants, we have been constrained 
 to advise the general to take this step. We can not 
 conceal our concern that six thousand men should be 
 oidered to Canada, without taking care to have 
 magazines formed for their subsistence, cash to pay 
 them, or to pay the inhabitants for their labor, in 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 31 
 
 transporting the baggage, stores, and provisions of 
 the army. We can not find words strong enough to 
 describe our miserable situation ; you will have a 
 faint idea of it if you figure to yourself an army 
 broken and disheartened, half of it under inoculation, 
 or under other diseases ; soldiers without pay, with- 
 out discipline, and altogether reduced to live from 
 hand to mouth, depending on the scanty and precari- 
 ous supplies of a few half-starved cattle, and trifling 
 quantities of flour, which have hitherto been picked 
 up in different parts of the country. 
 
 “ Your soldiers grumble for their pay ; — if they re- 
 ceive it they will not be benefited, as it will not pro- 
 cure them the necessaries they stand in need of. 
 Your military chest contains but eleven thousand 
 paper dollars. You are indebted to your troops treble 
 that sum, and to the inhabitants above fifteen thou- 
 sand dollars.* 
 
 ## * * * * * * * 
 
 “ Samuel Chase, 
 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton .” 
 
 It is impossible to fancy a picture of more abject 
 wretchedness than is given in this graphic letter of 
 the commissioners, and it well prepares us for the 
 consequences that ensued. Having done all in their 
 power to maintain our authority in Canada, Messrs. 
 Chase and Carroll took their departure from Mon- 
 treal on the 29th of May, to be present at a council 
 of war of the general and field officers, at Chamblay. 
 On the 30th it was resolved by this council to main- 
 tain possession of the strip of country “between the 
 
 * American Archives, vol. vi, pp. 589, 590. 
 
32 introductory memoir. 
 
 St. Lawrence and Sorel, if possible , and, in the mean- 
 time, to dispose matters so as to make an orderly 
 retreat out of Canada."* 
 
 On the 31st the commissioners passed from Cham- 
 blay to St. John’s, where every thing was in confu- 
 sion ; and on the morning of the 1st of June they 
 found General Sullivan, who had arrived with four- 
 teen hundred men during the night. Next day they 
 took leave of the general, and sailed from St. John’s 
 on their journey homewards. 
 
 Thus ended the labors of the commissioners. They 
 returned to Philadelphia, reported to congress, and 
 congress voted to send new troops, and to supply 
 them properly.! But, in the meantime, the fate of 
 our efforts in Canada was sealed. The last stand 
 was made by General Sullivan: “Yet,” says Mr. 
 Sparks, “ it was more resolute in purpose than suc- 
 cessful in execution ; the whole army was compelled 
 precipitately to evacuate Canada, and retire over the 
 lake to Crown Point. 
 
 “ Montreal was held to the last moment. Arnold 
 then drew off his detachment, with no small risk of 
 being intercepted by Sir Guy Carleton, and proceeded 
 to St. John’s, making, as General Sullivan wrote, ‘a 
 very prudent and judicious retreat, with an enemy 
 close at his heels.’ He had, two days before, been at 
 St. John’s, directed an encampment to be enclosed, 
 and ordered the frame of a vessel then on the stocks 
 to be taken to pieces, the timbers numbered, and the 
 whole to be sent to Crown Point. General Sullivan 
 soon arrived with the rear of his retreating army, and 
 
 * See Carroll’s Journal of those dates. 
 
 +See Journals of Congress for June, 1776, vol. ii, p. 206, ed. of 1800. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 33 
 
 preparations were made for an immediate embarka- 
 tion. To this work Arnold applied himself with his 
 usual activity and vigilance, remaining behind until 
 lie had seen every boat leave the shore but his own. 
 He then mounted his horse, attended by Wilkinson, 
 his aid-de-camp, and rode back two miles, when they 
 discovered the enemy’s advanced division in full 
 march under General Burgoyne. They gazed at, or, 
 in military phrase, reconnoitred it for a short time, 
 and then hastened back to St. John’s. A boat being 
 in readiness to receive them, the horses were stripped 
 and shot, the men were ordered on board, and Arnold, 
 refusing all assistance, pushed off the boat with his 
 own hands ; ‘ thus,’ says Wilkinson, 4 indulging the 
 vanity of being the last man who embarked from the 
 shores of the enemy.’ ” * 
 
 The commencement of this attack upon Canada 
 was attended with brilliant success. The early efforts 
 of Allen and Arnold at Ticonderoga and Crown Point 
 are remarkable for daring courage. The career of 
 Montgomery from the Isle Aux Noix to Quebec, and 
 his storming of that stronghold, rank conspicuously 
 among military exploits. The march ot Arnold 
 through the wilderness is characterized by dangers 
 and hardships that would have appalled a less resolute 
 soldier. And the siege of Quebec with the shadow 
 of an army throughout a Canadian winter ; the diplo- 
 macy of congress by its commissioners ; and last, 
 though not least, the honorable retreat of Sullivan 
 and Arnold, hotly pursued as they were by Burgoyne 
 to Sorel, Chamblay, and Isle Aux Noix,— all these 
 deserve to be remembered, by the student of this 
 * Sparks’ Life of Arnold, p. 62. 
 
u 
 
 34 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR* 
 
 episode on our revolutionary struggles, as reflecting 
 honor on the gallant men who retreated from those 
 extremities of the British possessions to protect the 
 vitals of the land in the approaching war of inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 In concluding this introductory sketch, the editor, 
 to whom the Maryland Historical Society has confided 
 so pleasing a task, deems it useless to add a single 
 line by way of biography. The life of Charles Car- 
 roll of Carrollton has been so frequently written, 
 that the people are familiar with it. 
 
 The Diary which is now published was presented 
 by Mr. Carroll to his grand-daughter, Mrs. MacTavish, 
 in 1823, and was deposited by her last year among 
 the archives of our society. 
 
 It is believed that this journal will be deeply inte- 
 resting to those who delight to recur to the olden 
 times, and to mark the improvement made in our 
 country within seventy years. The distance that Mr. 
 Carroll passed over in a month, may now be accom- 
 plished with ease in a couple of days, whilst the wil- 
 derness he traversed has come to “bloom like a 
 rose.”* It is by no means the least agreeable asso- 
 
 * In comparing the past with the present, it may not be uninteresting 
 
 to record the fact that, in the year 1845, persons may travel from 
 
 New York to Albany, 150 miles, by first class steamer, for $ 50 
 
 Albany to White Hall, by steamer and packet boat, 77 miles, - - 113 
 
 White Hall to St. John's by steamer, 150 miles, 25 
 
 St. John’s to La Prairie, by railway, 15 miles, 50 
 
 La Prairie to Montreal, by steamer, 9 miles, 50 
 
 Time two days. In all, 401 miles, cost 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. 35 
 
 ciation with this valuable relic, that its author was 
 one of the fifty-five who, a month afterwards, signed 
 that memorable document whose pledges produced 
 this magical change on the face of our country, and 
 on the happiness of its people. 
 
 Baltimore, 1st July, 1845 
 
J 
 
 
 £1 
 
JOURNAL 
 
 0 F 
 
 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON, 
 
 DURING HIS 
 
 VISIT TO CANADA, IN 1776, 
 as one of tlje Commissioners from Congress. 
 
 2d April , 1776. Left New York at 5 o’clock, P. M.; 
 sailed up North river, or Hudson’s, that afternoon, 
 about thirteen miles. About one o’clock in the night 
 were awaked by the firing of cannon ; heard three 
 great guns distinctly from the Asia ; soon saw a great 
 fire, which we presumed to be a house on Bedloe’s 
 island, set on fire by a detachment of our troops. 
 Intelligence had been received that the enemy were 
 throwing up intrenchments on that island, and it had 
 been determined by our generals to drive them off. 
 Dr. Franklin went upon deck, and saw waving 
 flashes of light appearing suddenly and disappearing, 
 which he conjectured to be the fire of musquetry, 
 although he could not hear the report. 
 
 3 d. A bad, rainy day ; wind north-east ; quite ahead. 
 A. M., eleven o’clock, opposite to Colonel Phillips’s (a 
 tory) ; pretty situation near the river ; garden sloping 
 down to it ; house has a pretty appearance : a church 
 6 
 
38 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 at a little distance on the south side, surrounded by 
 cedar trees. The banks of the river, on the western 
 side, exceedingly steep and rocky ; pine trees grow- 
 ing amidst the rocks. On the eastern, or New York 
 side, the banks are not near so steep, they decline 
 pretty gradually to the water’s edge. The river is 
 straight hitherto. About five o’clock wind breezed 
 up from the south ; got under way, and ran with a 
 pretty easy gale as far as the highlands, forty miles 
 from New York. The river here is greatly con- 
 tracted, and the lands on each side very lofty. When 
 we got into this strait the wind increased, and blew 
 in violent flaws ; in doubling one of these steep crag- 
 gy points we were in danger of running on the rocks; 
 endeavored to double the cape called St. Anthony’s 
 nose, but all our efforts proved ineffectual; obliged 
 to return some way back in the straits to seek shel- 
 ter ; in doing this, our mainsail was split to pieces by 
 a sudden and most violent blast of wind off the moun- 
 tains. Came to anchor: blew a perfect storm all 
 night and all day the fourth. Remained all day (the 
 fourth) in Thunder Hill bay, about half a mile below 
 Cape St. Anthony’s nose, and a quarter of a mile from 
 Thunder Hill. Our crew were employed all this day 
 in repairing the mainsail. The country round about 
 this bay has a wild and romantic appearance; the 
 hills are almost perpendicularly steep, and covered 
 with rocks, and trees of a small size. The hill called 
 St. Anthony’s nose is said to be full of sulphur. I 
 make no doubt this place has experienced some vio- 
 lent convulsion from subterraneous fire : the steepness 
 of the lulls, their correspondence, the narrowness of 
 the river, and its depth, all confirm me in this opinion. 
 

 
 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 30 
 
 5th. Wind at north-east, mainsail not yet repaired. 
 Sailed about twelve o’clock from Thunder Hill bay ; 
 just before we doubled Cape St. Anthony’s nose, Mr. 
 Chase and I landed to examine a beautiful fall of 
 water. Mr. Chase, very apprehensive of the leg of 
 mutton being boiled too much, impatient to get on 
 board ; wind breezing up, we had near a mile to row 
 to overtake the vessel. As soon as we doubled Cape 
 St. Anthony’s nose a beautiful prospect opened on us. 
 The river, from this place to Constitution fort, built 
 on Marbler’s rock, forms a fine canal, surrounded with 
 high hills of various shapes ; one, in particular, resem- 
 bles a sugar loaf, and is so called. About three miles 
 from Cape St. Anthony’s nose is another beautiful 
 cascade, called “the Buttermilk.” This is formed by 
 a rivulet which flows from a lake on the top of a 
 neighboring mountain ; this lake, we were told, 
 abounds with trout and perch. Arrived about five 
 o’clock at Constitution fort ; Mr. Chase went with me 
 on shore to visit the fort; it is built on a rock called 
 Marbler’s rock : the river at this place makes a sud- 
 den bend to the west ; the battery (for it does not 
 deserve the name of a fort, being quite open on the 
 north-east side) has two flanks, one fronting the 
 south, and the other the west on the south flank 
 were planted thirteen six, and one nine pounder; on 
 the west flank, seven nine pounders and one six 
 pounder, but there were no cannoniers in the fort, 
 and only one hundred and two men fit to do duty ; 
 they intend to erect another battery on an eminence 
 called Gravel hill, which will command vessels coming 
 up the river as soon as they double Cape St. Anthony’s 
 nose. A little above this cape a battery is projected 
 
□ 
 
 
 1 
 
 40 JOURNAL OF 
 
 to annoy the enemy’s vessels, to be called Fort Mont- 
 gomery ; they intend another battery lower down the 
 river, and a little below Cape St. Anthony’s nose. In 
 the highlands are many convenient spots to construct 
 batteries on ; but, in order to make them answer the 
 intended purpose, weighty metal should be placed on 
 these batteries, and skilful gunners should be engaged 
 to serve the artillery. About nine o’clock at night, the 
 tide making, we weighed anchor, and came to again 
 about two o’clock in the morning, the sixth instant. 
 The river is remarkably deep all the way through 
 the highlands, and the tide rapid. When we came 
 to an anchor off Constitution fort we found the depth 
 of water above thirty fathoms. These highlands 
 present a number of romantic views, the steep hills 
 overshadow the water, and in some places the rocks, 
 should they be rolled down, would fall into the river 
 several feet from the banks on which they stood. 
 This river seems intended by nature to open a com- 
 munication between Canada and the province of New 
 York by water, and, by some great convulsion, a 
 passage has been opened to the waters of Hudson’s 
 river through the highlands. These are certainly a 
 spur of the Endless mountains. 
 
 6th. Weighed anchor about seven o’clock in the 
 morning : had a fine breeze ; the country more culti- 
 vated above the highlands ; passed several mills, all 
 of them overshot ; saw two frigates on the stocks 
 at Pokeepsay, building for the service of the United 
 Colonies; saw a great many lime-kilns in our run this 
 morning, on both sides of the river, the banks of 
 which begin to slope more gradually to the water’s 
 edge. We wrote to General Heath, from off Consti- 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 41 
 
 tution fort, and sent the letter to the commanding 
 officer of the fort, with orders to forward it by ex- 
 press immediately to the general at New \ ork. The 
 purport of the letter was to inform the general of the 
 very defenceless condition of the fort, that measures 
 might be immediately taken to put it in a better pos- 
 ture of defence. If Howe was a man of enterprise, 
 and knew of the weak state of the fort, he might take 
 it in its present situation with sixty men, and without 
 cannon. He might land his party a little below' the 
 fort on the east side, march over a marsh, and attack 
 it on the back part. It was proposed to erect a bat- 
 tery of some cannon to sweep this marsh ; but this, 
 and also the battery above mentioned, on Gravel hill, 
 have been strangely neglected, and nothing as yet 
 has been done towards constructing either of these 
 batteries, more than levelling the top of Gravel hill. 
 
 Six o’clock, P. M., came to anchor four miles from 
 Albany 5 had a most glorious run this day, and a 
 most pleasant sail; including our run in the night, 
 we ran this day ninety-six miles — Constitution fort 
 being one hundred miles from Albany, and sixty from 
 New York. We passed several country houses pleas- 
 antly situated on the banks, or, rather, eminences 
 commanding the banks of the river; the grounds we 
 could discover from the vessel did not appear to be 
 highly improved. We had a distant view of the 
 Katskill mountains. These are said to be some of 
 the highest in North America ; they had a pleasing 
 appearance ; the weather being somewhat hazy, they 
 appeared like bluish clouds at a great distance; 
 when we were nearest to them, they were distant 
 about ten miles. Vast tracts of land on each side of 
 
J 
 
 42 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Hudson’s river are held by the proprietaries, or, as 
 they are here styled, the Patroncs of manors. One of 
 the Ransalaers has a grant of twenty miles on each 
 side of the river. Mr. Robert R. Livingston informed 
 me that he held three hundred thousand acres. I am 
 told there are but ten original patentees between 
 Albany and the highlands. The descendants of the 
 first proprietaries of these immense tracts still keep 
 them in possession ; necessity has not as yet forced 
 any of them to sell any part. 
 
 1th. Weighed anchor this morning about six o’clock. 
 Wind fair : having passed over the overslaw, had a 
 distinct view of Albany, distant about two miles: — 
 landed at Albany at half-past seven o’clock ; received, 
 at landing, by General Schuyler* who, understand- 
 ing we were coming up, came from his house, about 
 a mile out of town, to receive us and invite us to dine 
 with him; he behaved with great civility; lives in 
 pretty style; has two daughters (Betsy and Peggy), 
 
 General Philip Schuyler, who was one of our distinguished revolu- 
 tionary soldiers, was born in 1733, at Albany. He entered the army at the 
 breaking out of the French war in 1755, and accompanied Sir W. John- 
 son to Fort Edward and Lake George. After the peace of 1763, he 
 undertook several civil employments. On the 25th of June, 1775, 
 (whilst a delegate to the continental congress,) he was appointed third 
 major general of the American army; and was forthwith charged by 
 W ashington with the command of our forces in the province of N. York, 
 lere and in Canada he served the country with great ability, until the 
 or er was given to abandon that province. After this he displayed his 
 patriotism and usefulness in various public employments of a military 
 
 Lc^teTtl an<3 •“ April ’ 1779 ’ con S ress - after his repeated solicitations, 
 his enlicrhteneH S!S It atl0n ° f hlS comraand in the army- The benefit of 
 
 trv dST JUdSm ; nt and Civil services was d ^ied to his coun- 
 try during the remainder of his life. His last few years were passed in 
 
 dignified retirement; and, after suffering the most poignant ^"ui ! 
 
 ‘r.r.r r of hi * ■»-”->*»• ws; 
 
 he died at the age of seventy-one, on the 18th of November, 1804. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 43 
 
 lively, agreeable, black eyed girls. Albany is situated 
 partly on a level, and partly on the slope of a hill, or 
 rising ground, on the west side of the river. Vessels 
 drawing eight and nine feet water may come to 
 Albany, and live miles even beyond it, at this season 
 of the year, when the waters are out. The fort is in 
 a ruinous condition, and not a single gun mounted on 
 it. There are more houses in this town than in An- 
 napolis, and I believe it to be much more populous. 
 The citizens chiefly speak Dutch, being mostly the 
 descendants of Dutchmen ; but the English language 
 and manners are getting ground apace. 
 
 9th. Left Albany early this morning, and travelled 
 in a wagon in company with Mrs. Schuyler, her two 
 daughters, and Generals Schuyler and Thomas. At 
 six miles from Albany I quitted the wagon and got 
 on horse-back to accompany the generals to view the 
 falls on the Mohawk’s river, called the Cohooes. The 
 perpendicular fall is seventy-four feet, and the breadth 
 of the river at this place, as measured by General 
 Schuyler, is one thousand feet. The fall is conside- 
 rably above one hundred feet, taken from the first 
 ripple or still water above the perpendicular fall. 
 The river was swollen with the melting ol the snows 
 and rains, and rolled over the frightful precipice an 
 impetuous torrent. The foam, the irregularities in 
 the fall broken by projecting rocks, and the deafening 
 noise, presented a sublime but terrifying spectacle. 
 At fifty yards from the place the water dropped from 
 the trees, as it does after a plentiful shower, they being 
 as wet with the ascending vapor as they commonly 
 are after a smart rain of some continuance. The 
 bottoms adjoining the river Hudson are fine lands, 
 
44 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 and appeared to be well cultivated; most of them 
 that we passed through were in wheat, which, though 
 commonly overflowed in the spring, we were informed 
 by our driver, suffered no hurt, but were rather im- 
 proved by the inundation. We arrived in the evening, 
 a little before sunset, at Saratoga, the seat of General 
 Schuyler, distant from Albany thirty-two miles. We 
 spent the whole day in the journey, occasioned by 
 the badness of the roads, and the delay the wagons 
 met with in crossing two ferries. The roads at this 
 season of the year are generally bad, but now worse 
 than ever, owing to the great number of wagons em- 
 ployed in carrying the baggage of the regiments 
 marching into Canada, and supplies to the army in 
 that country. General Schuyler informed me that 
 an uninterrupted water-carriage between New York 
 and Quebec might be perfected at fifty thousand 
 pounds Stirling expense, by means of locks, and a 
 small canal cut from a branch that runs into Wood 
 creek, and the head of a branch which falls into 
 Hudson’s river ; the distance is not more than three 
 miles. The river Richelieu, or Sorel, is navigable 
 for batteaux from the lake Champlain into the St. 
 Lawrence. The rapids, below St. John’s, are not 
 so considerable as to obstruct the navigation of such 
 vessels. 
 
 The lands about Saratoga are very good, particu- 
 larly the bottom lands. Hudson’s river runs within 
 a quarter of a mile of the house, and you have a 
 pleasing view of it for two or three miles above and 
 below. A stream called Fishkill, which rises out of 
 Lake Saratoga, about six miles from the general’s 
 house, runs close by it, and turns several mills ; one, 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 45 
 
 a grist mill, two saw-mills, (one of them carrying 
 fourteen saws,) and a hemp and flax mill. This mill 
 is a new construction, and answers equally well in 
 breaking hemp or flax. I requested the general to 
 get a model made for me by the person who built it. 
 Descriptions of machines are seldom accurately made, 
 and when done with exactness are seldom under- 
 stood. I was informed by the general that it is 
 customary for the great proprietaries of lands to lease 
 them out for three lives, sometimes on fee-farm-rents, 
 reserving, byway of rent, a fourth, or, more common- 
 ly, a tenth of all the produce; but the proprietaries 
 content themselves with a tenth of the wheat. On 
 every transmutation of property from one tenant to 
 another, a quarter part of what the land sells for is 
 sometimes paid to the original proprietary 01 lord of 
 the manor. The general observed to me that this was 
 much the most advantageous way of leasing lands ;— 
 that in the course of a few years, from the frequent 
 transmutations of tenants, the alienation fines would 
 exceed the purchase of the fee-simple, though sold at 
 a high valuation. General Schuyler is a man ol a 
 good understanding improved by reflection and study; 
 he is of a very active turn, and fond of husbandry, 
 and when the present distractions are composed, if 
 his infirm state of health will permit him, will make 
 Saratoga a most beautiful and most valuable estate. 
 He saws up great quantities of plank at his mills, 
 which, before this war, was disposed of in the neigh- 
 borhood, but the greater part of it sent to Albany. 
 
 Uth. Generals Thomas and Schuyler set off this 
 morning for Lake George ; the former to be in readi- 
 ness to cross the lake on the first breaking up of the 
 7 
 
4G 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 ice, the latter to forward the embarkation and trans- 
 portation of military stores and supplies. 
 
 [2th. It snowed all this morning until eleven 
 o’clock ; the snow above six inches deep on the 
 ground : it was not off the neighboring hills when 
 we left Saratoga.* 
 
 1 6th. This morning we set off from Saratoga; I 
 parted with regret from the amiable family of Gene- 
 ral Schuyler; the ease and affability with which we 
 were treated, and the lively behaviour of the young 
 ladies, made Saratoga a most pleasing stjour, the 
 remembrance of which will long remain with me. 
 We rode from Saratoga to McNeill’s ferry, [distance 
 two miles and a half,] crossed Hudson’s river at this 
 place, and rode on to one mile above Fort Miller, 
 which is distant from McNeill’s two miles. A Mr. 
 Dover has a country-seat near Fort Miller; you see 
 his house from the road. There is a very considera- 
 ble fall in the river at Fort Miller. Just above it our 
 baggage was put into another boat; it had been 
 brought in a wagon from Saratoga to McNeill’s, car- 
 ried over the ferry in a wagon, and then put on board 
 a boat, in which it was conveyed to the foot of Fort 
 Miller falls ; then carried over land a quarter of a mile 
 and put into a second boat. At a mile from Fort Miller 
 we got into a boat and went up the Hudson river to 
 bort Edward. Although this fort is but seven miles 
 
 Dr. Franklin addressed a friendly letter to Josiah Quincy, dated 15th 
 o( April, 1776, in which he says, I am here on my way to Canada, 
 etained by the present state of the lakes, in which the unthawed ice 
 obstructs the navigation. I begin to apprehend that I have undertaken 
 a fatigue that, at my time of life, may prove too much for me, so I sit 
 down to twite to a few friends, by way of farewell” -See Sparks’s Life of 
 Franklin, vol. vm, p. 180. — American Archives, vol. v, p. 947. 
 
j 
 
 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 47 
 
 distant from the place where we took boat, we were 
 above four hours rowing up. The current is exceed- 
 ingly rapid, and the rapidity was increased by a 
 freshet. In many places the current was so strong 
 that the batteau men were obliged to set up with 
 poles, and drag the boat by the painter. Although 
 these fellows were active and expert at this business, 
 it was with the greatest difficulty they could stem 
 the current in particular places. The congress keeps 
 in pay three companies of batteau men on Hudson’s 
 river, consisting each of thirty-three men with a cap- 
 tain —the pay of the men is £4.10 per month. The 
 lands bordering on Hudson’s river, as you approach 
 Fort Edward, become more sandy, and the principal 
 wood that grows on them is pine. There are several 
 saw mills both above and below Fort Miller. The 
 planks sawed at the mills above tort Miller are 
 made up into small rafts and left without guides to 
 the current of the river ; each one is marked, so 
 that the raft-men that remain just below Fort Miller 
 falls, watching for them coming down, may easily 
 know their own rafts. When they come over the 
 falls they go out in canoes and boats and tow their 
 rafts ashore, and then take them to pieces and make 
 them again into larger rafts. The smaller rafts are 
 called cribs. The ruins only of Fort Edward remain ; 
 there is a good large inn, where we found quartered 
 Colonel Sinclair’s regiment. Mr. Allen, son of old 
 Mr. Allen, is lieutenant-colonel ; lie received us very 
 politely and accommodated us with beds. The officers 
 of this regiment are in general fine sized men, and 
 seemed to be on a friendly footing the soldiers also 
 are stout fellows. 
 
48 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 llth. Having breakfasted with Colonel Allen, we 
 set off from Fort Edward on our way to Fort George. 
 We had not got a mile from the fort when a messen- 
 ger from General Schuyler met us. He was sent 
 with a letter by the general to inform us that Lake 
 George was not open, and to desire us to remain at 
 an inn kept by one Wing, at seven miles distance from 
 Fort Edward and as many from Fort George. The 
 country between Wing’s tavern and Fort Edward is 
 very sandy and somewhat hilly. The principal wood 
 is pine. At Fort Edward the river Hudson makes a 
 sudden turn to the westward ; it soon again resumes 
 its former north course, for, at a small distance, we 
 found it on our left and parallel with the road which 
 we travelled, and which, from Fort Edward to Fort 
 George, lies nearly north and south. At three miles, 
 or thereabouts, from Fort Edward, is a remarkable 
 fall in the river. We could see it from the road, but 
 not so as to form any judgment of its height. We 
 were informed that it was upwards of thirty feet, and 
 is called the Kingsbury falls. We could distinctly 
 see the spray arising like a vapor or fog from the 
 violence of the fall. The banks of the river, above 
 and below these falls for a mile or two, are remarka- 
 bly steep and high, and appear to be formed, or faced, 
 with a kind of stone very much resembling slate. 
 The banks of the Mohawk’s river at the Cohooes are 
 faced with the same sort of stone it is said to be 
 an indication of sea-coal. Mr. Wing’s tavern is in 
 the township of Q,ueensbury, and Charlotte county; 
 Hudson’s river is not above a quarter of a mile from 
 Ins house. There is a most beautiful fall in the river 
 at this place. From still water, to the foot of the 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 49 
 
 fall, I imagine the fall can not be less than sixty 
 feet, but the fall is not perpendicular; it may be 
 about a hundred and twenty or a hundred and fifty 
 feet long, and in this length, it is broken into three 
 distinct falls, one of which may be twenty-five feet 
 nearly perpendicular. I saw Mr. Wing’s patent, — 
 the reserved quit-rent is two-sixths sterling per hun- 
 dred acres; but he informs me it has never been 
 yet collected. 
 
 18 th. We set off from Wing’s tavern about twelve 
 o’clock this day, and reached Fort George* about 
 two o’clock ; the distance is eight miles and a half; — 
 you can not discover the lake until you come to the 
 heights surrounding it, — the descent from which to the 
 lake is nearly a mile long ; — from these heights you 
 have a beautiful view of the lake for fifteen miles down 
 it. Its greatest breadth during these fifteen miles does 
 not exceed a mile and a quarter, to judge by the eye, 
 which, however, is a very fallacious way of estimat- 
 ing distances. Several rocky! islands appear in the 
 lake, covered with a species of cedar called here 
 hemlock. Fort George is in as ruinous a condition as 
 Fort Edward, it is a small bastion, faced with stone, 
 and built on an eminence commanding the head of 
 
 *See General Schuyler’s letter to Washington, dated Fort George, 
 April 27, 1776, Am. Archives, vol. v, p. 1097 ; and the letter immediate- 
 ly following, from Arnold to Schuyler, dated at Montreal on the 20th 
 April. These letters give gloomy views of Canadian affairs. The reader 
 will not be amazed, after reading Arnold’s account of our army and its 
 resources, that it finally retreated from the province. 
 
 According to Arnold’s returns of the troops before Q.uebec on the 30th 
 March, 786 were on the sick list out of 2505, most of whom were griev- 
 ously ill of the small-pox.— “ Fifteen hundred of these men,” he says, 
 “ are at liberty on the 15th of A pril, and probably not more than half ol 
 them will be retained in the service.” 
 
50 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 the lake. — There are some barracks in it, in which 
 the troops were quartered, or rather one barrack, 
 which occupied almost the whole space between 
 the walls. At a little distance from this fort, and to 
 the westward of it, is the spot where the Baron 
 Dieskau was defeated by Sir William Johnson.* 
 About a quarter of a mile further to the westward 
 the small remains of Fort William Henry are to be 
 
 * See Chalmers’s History of the Revolt of the American Colonies, vol. 
 ii, p. 2 77, and Smith’s History of New York, vol. ii, p. 220. 
 
 The Baron Dieskau had collected about 3000 men at Crown Point, 
 and led a detachment of 200 regulars, 600 Canadians, and as many 
 Indians, up the South bay, intending to pass on and lay waste the set- 
 tlements down to Albany ; but, near Fort Edward, he turned back, with 
 hopes of cutting off that part of the army which was then fourteen miles 
 higher up the lake. Pie was first met by a party of about 1000 men, a 
 few miles from our camp. He drove them before him, as well as a detach- 
 ment sent to support them ; but, by a very great error, instead of storming 
 the log breastwork, he halted and scattered his irregulars at one hundred 
 and fifty yards, keeping up a fire of masqueti'y , until the camp recovered 
 from its surprise and began to play upon them with artillery. 
 
 Wounded, and deserted by all but his handful of regulars, he endeav- 
 ored to reach his boats at South bay ; but was pursued, wounded again, 
 and taken. A detachment of 200 men from Fort Edward, arriving at 
 this instant, pursued the flying army, and completed the repulse before 
 the dusk of evening. Sir William Johnson received a wound in the 
 thigh early in the action, and the defence was conducted by General 
 Lyman. 
 
 Dieskau had been a favorite soldier of Saxe, and by his recommenda- 
 tion had been entrusted by the French government with command in 
 Canada. He was long retained a prisoner in England, and, I believe, 
 died there from the effects of the wounds received in this fatal action. 
 Jis account of the battle and his correspondence with his government 
 may be seen in the collection of MSS. lately made by Mr. Brodhead for 
 the state of New York, and deposited at Albany in the Secretary of 
 S ll 6 ® ®* ce -- See J° 1 - « of the Paris Documents, pp. 117, 123, 125. 
 
 L y ’ ' ^ Parliament granted at the request of the colonies, 
 
 whose troops had defeated Dieskau, *115,000. not so much as a reim- 
 
 ursemen as a ounty ■ more as an encouragement for future exploits 
 than as a reward for the past. exploits, 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OP CARROLLTON. 
 
 51 
 
 seen across a little rivulet which forms a swamp, and 
 is the morass mentioned by Sir William Johnson in 
 his account of the action with Dieskau. Fort William 
 Henry was taken last war by Montcalm, and de- 
 stroyed ; — the garrison, consisting of four hundred 
 men, and sixteen hundred others that were intrenched 
 without the fort, capitulated ; — a considerable part of 
 these men were murdered by the Indians, on their 
 march to Fort Edward, after they had delivered up 
 their arms, according to the terms of capitulation. 
 The bay in which Montcalm landed is seen from Fort 
 George ; he left a guard of five hundred men only to 
 protect his boats and artillery, and marched round 
 over the heights to come to the southward of Fort 
 William Henry. When on these heights, he discov- 
 ered the intrenched body without the fort, and seeing 
 the great indiscretion he had been guilty of in leaving 
 so small a force to guard his baggage and boats, he 
 rashly marched back to secure them. Had our troops 
 attacked Montcalm’s five hundred men, they would 
 probably have defeated them, taken his cannon and 
 boats, and forced him to surrender with his whole 
 army. There was nothing to impede the attack but 
 want of enterprise and conduct in the commanding 
 officer.* The neighborhood of Fort George abounds 
 
 * See Smith’s History of New York, vol. ii, pp. 245-6, and Chalmers’s 
 History of the Revolt of the American Colonies, vol. ii, pp. 287-8. 
 
 “Montcalm, who succeeded Dieskau in command, crossed Lake 
 Champlain with eleven thousand men, and a numerous artillery, and 
 invested Fort William Henry in the beginning of August, 1757. This 
 fort had been erected subsequently to the Crown Point expedition. Webb, 
 who lay in its vicinity at Fort Edward, with four thousand regulars and 
 provincials, did every thing for its relief that could be expected from an 
 intelligent officer. But he found it impossible to collect the numerous 
 militias of the neighboring provinces, since they never had been em- 
 
52 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 with limestone, and so indeed does all the country 
 surrounding the lake, and all the islands in it. Their 
 rocky coast and bottom contribute, no doubt, to the 
 clearness of the lake water. Never did I see water 
 more transparent, and to its transparency, no doubt, 
 must be ascribed the excellency of the fish in this 
 lake, which much exceed the fish in Lake Champlain. 
 Lake George abounds with perch, trout, rock, and eels. 
 
 19 th. We embarked at Fort George this evening, 
 about one o’clock, in company with General Schuyler, 
 and landed in Montcalm’s bay about four miles from 
 Fort George. After drinking tea on shore, and ar- 
 ranging matters in our boats, we again embarked, 
 and went about three or four miles further, then 
 landed, (the sun being set,) and kindled fires on shore. 
 The longest of the boats, made for the transportation 
 of the troops over lakes George and Champlain, are 
 thirty-six feet in length and eight feet wide ; they draw 
 about a foot water when loaded, and carry between 
 thirty and forty men, and are rowed by the soldiers. 
 They have a mast fixed in them, to which a square 
 sail, or a blanket is fastened, but these sails are of no 
 use unless with the wind abaft, or nearly so. After 
 we left Montcalm bay we were delayed considerably 
 in getting through the ice ; but, with the help of tent- 
 poles, we opened ourselves a passage through it into 
 free water. The boats fitted up to carry us across 
 had awnings over them, under which we made up 
 
 bodied under any system, and the authority of the governors had long been 
 sacrificed to the passions of the multitude. 
 
 “Monro defended Fort William Henry with a gallantry that gained 
 urn t e app ause of his conqueror, who could not, however, protect a 
 brave garrison iron, the plunder of the savages. Montcalm, after this, 
 retired into Canada, and so ended the third campaign of that war.” 
 

 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON, 
 
 53 
 
 our beds, and my fellow travellers slept very comfort- 
 ably; but this was not my case, for I was indisposed 
 the whole night, with a violent sickness at my stom- 
 ach and vomiting, occasioned by an indigestion. We 
 left the place where we passed the night very early 
 on the 20th. 
 
 20th. We had gone some miles before I rose ; soon 
 after I got out of bed we found ourselves entangled 
 in the ice. We attempted, but in vain, to break 
 through it in one place, but were obliged to desist and 
 force our passage through another, which we effected 
 without much difficulty. At eight o’clock we landed 
 to breakfast. After breakfast the general looked to 
 his small boat ; being desirous to reach the landing at 
 the north end of Lake George, we set off together ; 
 but the general’s boat and the other boat, with part 
 of the luggage, soon got before us a considerable way. 
 After separating, we luckily fell in with the boat 
 bringing the Montreal and Canada mail, by which 
 we were informed that the w'est shore of the lake, at 
 a place called Sabatay point, was much encumbered 
 with ice, but that there was a free passage on the 
 east side ; accordingly, we kept along the east shore, 
 and found it free from ice, by which means we got 
 before the general and the other boat ; for the gene- 
 ral, who was foremost, had been delayed above an 
 hour in breaking through the ice, and, in one place, 
 was obliged to haul his boat over a piece or neck of 
 land thirty feet broad. Dr. Franklin found in the 
 Canada mail, which he opened, a letter for General 
 Schuyler. When we had weathered Sabaty point, 
 we stood over for the western shore of the lake, and 
 a mile or two below the point we were overtaken by 
 
 8 
 
54 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 the genera], from whom w r e learned the cause of his 
 delay. Mr. Chase and myself went on board the 
 general’s boat, and reached the landing place at the 
 south end of Lake George near two hours before the 
 other boats. Lake George lies nearly north and 
 south, or rather, as I think, somewhat to the eastward 
 of a due north course. Its shores are remarkably 
 steep, high, and rocky (particularly the east shore), 
 and are covered with pine and cedar, or what is here 
 termed hemlock; the country is wild, and appears 
 utterly incapable of cultivation ; it is a fine deer 
 country, and likely to remain so, for I think it never 
 will be inhabited. I speak of the shores, and I am 
 told the inland country resembles these. The lake, 
 in its greatest width, does not exceed, I think, two 
 miles ; the widest part is nearest the north end, im- 
 mediately before you enter the last narrows, which 
 are not, in their greatest width, above half a mile. 
 There are two places where the lake is considerably 
 contracted, one about the middle of it, the other, 
 as I have said, at the north end ; this last gradually 
 contracts itself in breadth to the size of an inconside- 
 rable river, and suddenly, in depth, to that of a very 
 shallow one. The landing place of Lake George is 
 a few yards to the southward of the first fall or ripple 
 in this river, through which the waters of Lake 
 George drain into Lake Champlain. We passed 
 through this ripple, and though our boat did not draw 
 above seven or eight inches, her bottom raked the 
 rocks , the water ran through this passage about as 
 swift as it does through your tail race." From the 
 landing place to Ticonderoga is three miles and a 
 hall. The boats, in coming through Lake George, 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 55 
 
 pass through the passage just described, and unload 
 at a quarter of a mile below the usual landing 
 place. Their contents are then put into wagons, and 
 carried over to Ticonderoga. General Schuyler has 
 erected a machine for raising the boats when emp- 
 tied, and then letting them gently down on a carriage 
 constructed for the purpose, on which they are drawn 
 over land to Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, to 
 carry the troops over the last mentioned lake, and 
 down the Sorel into the river St. Lawrence. These 
 carriages consist of four wheels, united by a long 
 sapling, at the extremities of which the wheels are 
 placed ; over the axletrees is fixed a piece of wood, 
 on which each end of the boat is supported and made 
 fast by a rope secured round a bolt at the undermost 
 part, and in the centre of the axletree. This bolt is 
 made of iron, and passes through the aforesaid pieces 
 of wood and the axletree. These carriages are 
 drawn by six oxen, and this morning ('21st instant) 
 I saw three or four boats carried over upon them. 
 Lake George, from the south end of it to the land- 
 ing place at the north extremity, is thirty-six miles 
 long. Its average width does not, I think, exceed a 
 mile, and this breadth is interspersed and broken by 
 innumerable little rocky islands formed of limestone ; 
 the shores of which are commonly so steep that 
 you may step from the rocks into ten or twelve feet 
 water. The season was not sufficiently advanced to 
 admit of catching fish, a circumstance we had reason 
 to regret, as they are so highly praised by the con- 
 noisseurs in good eating, and as one of our company 
 is so excellent a judge in this science. There are no 
 considerable rivers that empty themselves into Lake 
 
56 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 George. We saw some brooks or rivulets, which, I 
 presume, after the melting of the snows, are almost 
 dry. The lake must be fed, principally, with springs, 
 the melting of snows, and the torrents that must 
 pour into it, from its high and steep shores, after rains. 
 As there is no considerable river that flows into it, so 
 is the vent of its waters into Lake Champlain very 
 inconsiderable. In summer you may step, dry-footed, 
 from rock to rock, in the place which I have called 
 the first ripple, and which I said we passed, coming 
 out of Lake George. The water suddenly shallows 
 from a great depth to nine or ten feet or less. This 
 change is immediately discoverable by the great 
 change in the color of the water. The lake water is 
 of a dark bluish cast, and the water of the river of a 
 whitish color, owing not only to the difference of the 
 depth, but the difference of the bottoms and shores, 
 which, adjoining the river, are of white clay. 
 
 21s£. I took a walk this evening to the saw-mill 
 which is built on the principal fall of the river flow- 
 ing from Lake George into Lake Champlain. At 
 the foot of this fall, which is about thirteen feet high, 
 the river is navigable for batteaux into Lake Cham- 
 plain. From the saw-mill to the place where the 
 batteaux are put on carriages to be carried over land, 
 the distance is one mile and a half. I saw them un- 
 load a boat from the carriage, and launch it, at the 
 same time, into the river; this was performed bv 
 thirty-five or forty men. To-day they carried over 
 this portage fifty batteaux. I saw the forty-eighth 
 put on the carriage. A little to the northwestward 
 of the saw-mill, on the west side of the river, I visited 
 the spot where Lord Howe was killed. At a small 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 57 
 
 expense a continued navigation for batteaux might 
 be made between the lakes George and Champlain, 
 by means of a few locks. General Schuyler in- 
 formed me that locks, sufficient and adequate to the 
 above purpose, might be constructed for fifteen hun- 
 dred pounds sterling. There are but four or five falls 
 in this river, the greatest of which is not above four- 
 teen or fifteen feet. But the general informs me a 
 much more advantageous water carriage may be 
 opened through Wood creek, which falls into Lake 
 Champlain at Skeenesborough, twenty-eight miles 
 south of Ticonderoga. The general proposes to have 
 this creek accurately surveyed, the heights ascer- 
 tained, and estimate made of the expense of erecting 
 locks on Wood creek, and the most convenient branch 
 which heads near it and falls into Hudson’s river. 
 If this water communication between Lake Cham- 
 plain and the province of New York should be per- 
 fected, there is little danger of the enemy’s gaining 
 the mastery of Lake Champlain, or of their ever 
 having it in their power to invade these colonies from 
 Canada with any prospect of success, besides the se- 
 curity which will be obtained for the colonies in time 
 of war by making this navigation. Trade, during 
 peace, will be greatly benefited by it, as there will 
 then be a continued water communication between 
 New York and Canada, without the inconvenience 
 and expense attending the portages over land. 
 
 22 d. I this morning took a ride with General 
 Schuyler across the portage, or from the landing 
 place at the bottom of Lake George, to Ticonderoga. 
 The landing place is properly on the river which 
 runs out of Lake George into Lake Champlain, and 
 
58 JOURNAL OF 
 
 may be a mile and a half from the place where the 
 former may be said to terminate, i. e., where the lake 
 is contracted into a river, as a current and shallow 
 water. This river, computing its length from the 
 aforesaid spot to the foot of the falls at the saw mills, 
 and its windings, which are inconsiderable, is not 
 more than four or live miles long. From the foot of 
 the saw-mill falls there is still w T ater into Lake 
 Champlain. It is at the foot of these falls that the 
 batteaux, brought over land, are launched into the 
 water, and the artillery and the apparatus belonging 
 to it are embarked in them ; the stores, such as pro- 
 visions, ball, powder, &c., are embarked from Ticon- 
 deroga. At sixty or seventy yards below the saw- 
 mill there is a bridge built over the river : — this bridge 
 w r as built by the king during the last war; — the 
 road from the landing place to Ticonderoga passes 
 over it, and you then have the river on the right; 
 when you have passed the bridge you immediately 
 ascend a pretty high hill, and keep ascending till 
 you reach the famous lines made by the French in 
 the last war, which Abercrombie was so infatuated 
 as to attack with musquetry only ; — his cannon was 
 lying at the bridge, about a mile or something better 
 from these lines. The event of the day is too well 
 known to be mentioned ; we lost [killed and wounded] 
 near one thousand six hundred men ; had the cannon 
 been brought up, the French would not have waited 
 to be attacked ; — it was morally impossible to suc- 
 ceed against these lines with small arms only, par- 
 ticularly in the manner they were attacked ; — our 
 army passing before them, and receiving a fire from 
 the whole extent ; — whereas, had it marched lower 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 59 
 
 down, or to the north-west of these lines, it would 
 have flanked them : — they were constructed of large 
 trunks of trees, felled on each other, with earth thrown 
 up against them. On the side next the French 
 troops, they had, besides felling trees, lopped and 
 sharpened their branches, and turned them towards 
 the enemy; the trunks of the trees remain to this day 
 piled up as described, but are fast going to decay. 
 As soon as you enter these lines you have a full view 
 of Lake Champlain and Ticonderoga fort, distant 
 about a quarter of a mile. The land from thence 
 gradually declines to the spot on which the fort is 
 built.* Lake Champlain empties itself opposite the 
 fort, and runs south twenty-eight miles to Skeenes- 
 borough. Crown Point is fifteen miles down the lake 
 from Ticonderoga. The lake is no where broad in 
 sight of the last mentioned place, but the prospect 
 
 * The works at Ticonderoga were trifling’: logs had been piled up on the 
 land side in a line for a breastwork, with trees before it to embarrass 
 assailants. In August, 1758, Abercrombie, who was not informed that 
 there was, at one end, an open access to the French encampment, 
 ordered an attack with musquelry alone, upon that part of the line which 
 was completed and fortified with cannon. It was at that point that 
 the British sustained a loss of nearly two thousand men in killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 The French general, who was just within the lines, perceived the 
 folly of the British in advancing through the obstructions of an abattis 
 of trees, and forbade a musket to be fired until he gave the word. As 
 soon as the English troops were so completely within his toils that 
 their embarrassments utterly impeded flight, he issued the word of com- 
 mand, and the assailants were slaughtered like cattle. 
 
 It was related by Colonel Schuyler, who was then a prisoner in Can- 
 ada, that Montcalm’s whole force at Crown Point did not exceed three 
 thousand men, nor his killed, wounded, and captured, two hundred 
 and thirty. From a dread of the British superiority, he had actually 
 resolved, before Abercrombie retreated, to abandon Crown Point.— See 
 Smith’s History of New York, vol. ii, p. 265. 
 
60 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 from it is very pleasing ; its shores are not as steep 
 as those of Lake George. They rise gradually 
 from the water, and are covered more thickly with 
 woods, which grow in good soils, or at least in soils 
 much better than can be seen on Lake George. 
 There is but one settlement on the latter, at Sabatay 
 point; I understood there were about sixty acres of 
 good land at that point. Ticonderoga fort is in a 
 ruinous condition ; it was once a tolerable fortifica- 
 tion. The ramparts are faced with stone. I saw a 
 few pieces of cannon mounted on one bastion, more 
 for show, I apprehend, than service. In the present 
 state of affairs this fort is of no other use than as an 
 entrepdt or magazine for stores, as from this place 
 all supplies for our amy in Canada are shipped to go 
 down Lake Champlain. I saw four vessels, viz : 
 three schooners and one sloop ; these are to be armed, 
 to keep the mastery of the lake in case we should lose 
 St. John’s and be driven out of Canada ; — in the mean- 
 time they will be employed in carrying supplies to 
 our troops in that country. Of these three schooners 
 two were taken from the enemy on the surrender of 
 St. John’s, one of them is called the Royal Savage, 
 and is pierced for twelve guns ; she had, when taken, 
 twelve brass pieces — I think four and six pounders ; 
 these were sent to Boston. She is really a fine ves- 
 sel, and built on purpose for fighting ; however, some 
 repairs are wanted ; a new mainmast must be put in, 
 her old one being shattered with one of our cannon 
 balls.* When these vessels are completely rigged, 
 
 * This vessel had been taken the year before. — After Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point were secured by Colonel Allen, a party of his troops came 
 suddenly upon Major Skeene, at Skeenesborough, and, making him 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 61 
 
 armed, and manned, we may defy the enemy on 
 Lake Champlain for this summer and fall at least, 
 even should we unfortunately be driven out of Cana- 
 da. When our small army last summer, or rather 
 fall, [in number about one thousand seven hundred,] 
 came to Isle aux Noix, this vessel was almost ready 
 to put to sea, she wanted only as much to be done to 
 her as could easily have been finished in three days, 
 had the enemy exerted themselves. Had she ven- 
 tured out our expedition to Canada must have tailed, 
 and probably our whole army must have surrendered, 
 for she was greatly an overmatch for all the naval 
 
 prisoner, also seized a schooner and several batteaux, with which they 
 hastened to Tieonderoga.-AUen and Arnold then formed a plan to make 
 a rapid descent upon St. John’s, take a king’s sloop that lay there, and 
 attempt a descent upon the garrison. The schooner and batteaux were 
 therefore speedily manned and armed, and, as Arnold had been a sea- 
 man in his youth, the schooner was assigned to his command, while 
 the batteaux were committed to the charge of Allen. 1 hey left Ticon- 
 deroga at nearly the same time ; but, as the wind was fresh, the schooner 
 outsailed the batteaux. At eight o’clock in the evening of the 17th 
 Mav 1775, Arnold was within thirty miles ol St. John s ; and, as the 
 weather was calm, he fitted out two batteaux with thirty-five men, leav- 
 ing the schooner behind, and proceeded to his destination, where he 
 arrived at six o’clock next morning. He immediately made lus attack 
 seized a sergeant with twelve men, and the king’s sloop ol about 
 seventy tons, with two brass sixes, and seven men. Neither side sus- 
 tained^ V any loss; and embarking, after a delay of two hours he took 
 with him his captives, the sloop, and four batteaux, having destroyed 
 
 fiV Fiftee e n miles from St. John’s he met Allen pressing forward with his 
 party. They saluted in honor of the victory, and the colonel I'osbed on 
 S one hundred men towards La Prairie, to keep, if possible, the 
 ground that had been taken by Arnold. But, notwithstanding h.s reso- 
 h tion and courage, he was soon obliged to retreat before reinforcements 
 hat came from Chamblay and elsewhere, and he returned to Ticonde- 
 mgo, with a loss of only three men, who had been taken pr,soners.-See 
 Sparks’s American Biography, vol. l, p. 27'J, et seq. 
 
 9 
 
62 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 strength we then had on the lake. Had Preston, 
 who commanded at St. John’s, ventured out with his 
 garrison, consisting of six hundred men, and attacked 
 our people at their first landing, he would, in all 
 probability, have defeated them, as they w T ere a mere 
 undisciplined rabble, made up chiefly of the offings 
 and outcasts of New York. 
 
 23rf. We continued this day at the landing place, 
 our boats not being yet ready and fitted to carry us 
 through Lake Champlain. General Schuyler and 
 the troops were busily engaged in carting over land, 
 to the saw-mill, the batteaux, cannon, artillery stores, 
 provisions, &c., there to be embarked on the naviga- 
 ble waters of Lake Champlain, and transported over 
 that lake to St. John’s. 
 
 24 th. We this day left the landing place at Lake 
 George and took boat at the saw-mill. From the 
 saw-mill to Ticonderoga, the distance, by water, is 
 about a mile ; the water is shallow, but sufficiently 
 deep for batteau navigation. A little below the 
 bridge before mentioned, the French, during the last 
 war, drove pickets into the river, to prevent our boats 
 getting round from the saw-mill to Ticonderoga with 
 the artillery; some of the pickets still remain, for 
 both our boats struck on them. Ticonderoga fort * 
 is beautifully situated, but, as I said before, it is in a 
 ruinous condition ; — neither is the place, in my opin- 
 ion, judiciously chosen for the construction of a fort ; 
 a fort constructed at the saw-mill would much better 
 
 '‘ For an interesting account of the capture of this place by Ethan 
 Allen, on the morning of the 10th of May, 1775, “In the name,” as he 
 said, “ of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress see Sparks’s 
 American Biography, first series, vol. i, p. 274, et seq. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 63 
 
 secure the passage or pass into the province of New 
 York by way of Lake George. Having waited at 
 Ticonderoga an hour or two, to take in provisions for 
 the crews of both boats, consisting entirely of soldiers, 
 we embarked at eleven o’clock, and reached Crown 
 Point a little after three, with the help of our oars 
 only. Crown Point is distant from Ticonderoga only 
 fifteen miles. The lake, all the way, from one part 
 to another, is narrow, scarce exceeding a mile on 
 an average. Crown Point is situated on a neck or 
 isthmus of land, on the west side of the lake ; it is in 
 ruins ; it was once a considerable fortress, and the 
 English must have expended a large sum in con- 
 structing the fort and erecting the barracks, which 
 are also in ruins. A great part of the ditch is cut 
 out of the solid limestone rock. This ditch was 
 made by blowing the rocks, as the holes bored for 
 the gunpowder are plainly to be seen in the frag- 
 ments. By some accident the fort took fire, the 
 flames communicated to the powder magazine, con- 
 taining at that time ninety-six barrels. The shock 
 was so great as to throw down the barracks— at least 
 the upper stories. The explosion was distinctly 
 heard ten miles off, and the earth shook at that dis- 
 tance as if there had been an earthquake. This 
 intelligence I received from one Faris, who lives ten 
 miles down the lake, and at whose house we lay this 
 nwht. The wood work of the barracks is entirely 
 consumed by fire, but the stone work of the first 
 stories might be easily repaired, and one of these 
 barracks might be converted into a fine manufactory. 
 The erecting of these barracks and the fort must 
 have cost the government not less, I dare say, than 
 
w 
 
 G4 JOURNAL OF 
 
 one hundred thousand pounds sterling* The lake 
 is narrow opposite the fort, and makes a bend, by 
 which the vessels passing on the lake were much 
 exposed to the artillery of the fort; and this advan- 
 tageous situation first induced the French, and then 
 the English, to erect a fort here. The French fort 
 was inconsiderable, and close to the water ; the 
 English fort is a much more extensive fortification, 
 and farther from the lake, but so as to command it. 
 
 25th. We set off from Faris’s at five o’clock in the 
 morning. If Faris’s information may be relied on, his 
 land and the neighboring lands are exceedingly fine ; — 
 he told us he had reaped thirty bushels of wheat from 
 the acre; the soil appears to be good; but, to judge 
 of it from its appearance, I should not think it so 
 fertile. Three miles north of Faris’s the lake begins 
 to contract itself, and this contraction continues for 
 six miles, and is called the narrows. At Faris’s the 
 lake is about two miles wide. We breakfasted in a 
 small cove at a little distance to the southward of the 
 Split rock. The Split rock is nine miles from Faris’s 
 house. At the Split rock the lake grows immediately 
 wider as you go down it ; its width, in this place, can 
 not be much short of seven miles. When we had got 
 four or five miles from the rock, the wind headed us, 
 and blew a fresh gale, which occasioned a considera- 
 
 * As soon as Ethan Allen had got possession of Ticonderoga and 
 secured his prisoners, he despatched Seth Warner with a detachment of 
 men to seize Crown Point. The distance was only fifteen miles, but a 
 strong head wind drove back the boats, and the whole party returned 1 
 the same evening. A day or two afterwards, however, the attempt was 
 successfully renewed. The garrison — consisting of eleven men and a 
 sergeant was captured, and sixty-one good cannon, and fifty-three unfit 
 for service, were taken. — See Sparks’s American Biography, vol. i, p. 277. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 65 
 
 ble swell on the lake, the wind being north-east, and 
 having a reach of twenty miles. We w T ere con- 
 strained to put in at one McCaully’s, where we dined 
 on cold provisions. The wind abating about four 
 o’clock, we put off again, and rowed seven miles 
 down the lake to a point of land a mile or two to 
 the southward of four islands called the Four Bro- 
 thers; these islands lie nearly in the middle of the 
 lake, which is very wide in this place, and continues 
 so as far as you can see down it. Mr. Chase and I 
 slept this night on shore under a tent made of bushes. 
 
 2 6th* We set off this morning at four o’clock from 
 the last mentioned point, which I called “ Commis- 
 sioners’ point.” Wind fair ; a pretty breeze. At five 
 o’clock reached Schuyler’s island; it contains eight 
 hundred acres, and belongs to Montreson, distant seven 
 miles from the Four Brothers. Schuyler’s island lies 
 near the western shore. The lake continues wide ;— 
 at ten o’clock got to Cumberland head, fourteen miles 
 from Schuyler’s island. Cumberland head is the south 
 point of Cumberland bay. The bay forms a deep 
 recess on the western side of the lake; its length, 
 from Schuyler’s island, at the point of land opposite 
 to it, to Cumberland head-land, is fourteen miles, and 
 its depth not less than nine or ten miles. The wind 
 luckily favored us until we reached Cumberland head ; 
 it then ceased ; — it grew cloudy, and soon began to 
 rain, and the wind shifted to the north-east. We 
 breakfasted at Cumberland head on tea and good 
 biscuit, our usual breakfast, having provided ourselves 
 
 * On the 26th of April, 1776, the President of Congress addressed let- 
 ters to the commissioners, and to General Schuyler, upon the subject of 
 the late disturbances in Canada.— See Jtm.Jlrcli., vol. v, pp. 1085, 1086. 
 For the resolutions spoken of, see same volume, p. 1686. 
 
J 
 
 66 JOURNAL OF 
 
 with the necessary furniture for such a breakfast. 
 As soon as it cleared up we rowed across a bay, 
 about four miles wide, to Point aux Poches, so called 
 from the rocks of which it is formed. Indeed it is 
 one entire stone wall, fifteen feet high, but gradually 
 inclining to the north-east. At that extremity it is 
 little above the water. Having made a short stay at 
 this place to refresh our men, we rowed round the 
 point, hugged the western shore, and got into a cove 
 which forms a very safe harbor. But the ground 
 being low and swampy, and no cedar or hemlock 
 trees, of the branches of which our men formed their 
 tents at night, we thought proper to cross over to Isle 
 la Motte , bearing from us about north-east, and distant 
 three miles. This island is nine miles long and one 
 broad. The south-west side of it is high land, and 
 the water is deep close in shore, which is rocky and 
 steep. We lay under this shore all night in a critical 
 situation, for had the wind blown hard in the night, 
 from the west, our boats would probably have been 
 stove against the rocks. We passed the night on 
 board the boats, under the awning which had been 
 fitted up for us. This awning could effectually secure 
 us from the wind and rain, and there was space 
 enough under it to make up four beds. The beds we 
 were provident enough to take with us from Philadel- 
 phia. We found them not only convenient and com- 
 fortable, but necessary ; for, without this precaution, 
 persons travelling from the colonies into Canada at 
 this season of the year, or indeed at any other, will 
 find themselves obliged either to sit up all night, or 
 to lie on the bare ground or planks. Several of the 
 islands in Lake Champlain have different claimants, 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 67 
 
 as patents have been granted by the French govern- 
 ment and the government of New York. According to 
 the present division, most of them, indeed all, except 
 Isle aux JVoix, are in the colony of New York. 
 
 21th. A fine morning. We left our nation's station 
 at four o’clock, and rowed ten miles to Point au Fer, 
 so called from some iron mines at no great distance 
 from it; the land here, and all the adjacent country, 
 is very flat and low. Colonel Christie has built a 
 house at this point, which is intended for a tavern ; 
 the place is judiciously chosen. A small current 
 begins here, and the raftsmen are not obliged to row ; 
 after they bring their rafts to Point au Fer, the cur- 
 rent will carry them in a day to St. John’s, which is 
 distant from this point thirty measured miles. Wind- 
 mill point is three miles below Point au Fer ; and, a 
 mile or two below the former, runs the line which 
 divides the province of Quebec from New York. At 
 Windmill point the lake begins to contract itself to 
 the size of a river, but of a large and deep one. Op- 
 posite to this point the width can not be much short 
 of two miles: six miles below Windmill point you 
 meet with a small island called Isle aux Teles : from 
 a number of heads that were stuck upon poles by the 
 Indians after a great battle that was fought between 
 them on this island, or near it. At this island the 
 current is not only perceptible, but strong. We went 
 close by the island, and in shallow water, which gave 
 us a better opportunity of observing the swiftness of 
 the current. A mile or two below this island, we 
 breakfasted at a tavern kept by one Stodd. At Isle 
 aux Tetes, the river Richelieu, or St. John’s, or Sorel 
 (for it goes by all these names), may be properly said 
 
68 
 
 w 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 to begin. It is in this place above a mile wide, deep, 
 and the current considerable ; — its banks are almost 
 level with the water, — indeed, the water appears to 
 be rather above the banks ; the country is one con- 
 tinued swamp, overflowed by the river at this season ; — 
 as you approach St. John’s the current grows stronger. 
 Me aux Noix is half way between St. John’s and 
 Point au Per, and consequently fifteen miles from 
 each ; we passed close by it : it is very level and 
 low, covered at the north end with hazel bushes; 
 but the land is higher than the banks of the river.* 
 
 * In a letter from Colonel Ethan Allen to congress, on the 2d June, 
 1776, he speaks of his expedition as one undertaken at the special en- 
 couragement and request of a number of gentlemen in the colony of 
 Connecticut. After alluding to his successes, he declares that the key 
 of Canada is yet ours, and strongly recommends that two or three thou- 
 sand men should be pushed into that province, so as to weaken General 
 Gage, and insure us the country. He even believed that if he could be 
 thus furnished, he would find it no insuperable difficulty to take Quebec. 
 
 If, however, it was thought premature to push an army into Canada, 
 he proposed to make a stand at the Isle aux Noix, which had been forti- 
 fied by the intrenchments of the French during the last war, and had 
 greatly fatigued our large army to take it. 
 
 Allen’s advice was deemed bold and incautious when given, but 
 events afterwards proved that it was characterized by wisdom and fore- 
 thought. If a competent force had been thrown into Canada before the 
 British had time to rally their scattered forces, the campaign would have 
 rewarded us with success instead of the sad failure that attended the 
 wavering and tardy policy pursued by congress in maturing the expe- 
 dition. 
 
 Congress, or the country had, however, at this moment, not yet re- 
 solved how far they would enlist the Canadians in the enterprise, and 
 could not but have regarded the attack on their French neighbors as 
 very much like a distinct war from that undertaken against the British. 
 The first effort of the colonies was to secure their own immediate pos- 
 sessions; the next, to prevent injury to them from such possessions as 
 Great Britain might retain. The reader will observe that Mr. Carroll 
 fully agreed with Colonel Allen as to the great importance of this mili- 
 tary position at the Isle aux Noix.— See Sparks’s Jim . Btog., vol. i, 
 p. 283 et seq ,, et p. 287. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 09 
 
 We saw the intrench men ts thrown up by the French 
 during the last war, and the remains of the pickets 
 driven into the river, quite across to the island, to 
 prevent the English boats from getting down to St. 
 John’s. These fortifications induced General Am- 
 herst to penetrate into Canada by Oswego lake and 
 the St. Lawrence, rather than run the hazard of being 
 stopped at Isle aux JVoix. Indeed I believe he would 
 have found it a difficult matter to force his way 
 through this pass, which appears to me of great con- 
 sequence in the present contest, should the forces of 
 the united colonies be obliged to evacuate Canada; 
 for if we occupy and fortify this island, drive pickets 
 into the river, and build row galleys, and place them 
 behind the pickets, or between the little islets formed 
 by the several smaller islands, almost contiguous to 
 Isle aux JVoix, the enemy will not be able to pene- 
 trate into the colonies from Canada by the way ot 
 Lake Champlain. It is certain that Amherst, rather 
 than expose himself to the disgrace of being foiled 
 at this post, chose to make a roundabout march of 
 several hundred leagues, and encounter the rapids ol 
 the St. Lawrence, by which he lost some of his boats 
 and several hundred men* Having passed the Isle 
 
 * General Amherst left Schenectady in June, 1760, to join an army 
 of four thousand regulars and six thousand provincials, who were to 
 descend into the heart of the French colony by the St. Lawrence. Mean- 
 while General Murray was to approach, with two thousand regulars, 
 from Q-uebec, whilst five thousand provincials, under Colonel Haviland 
 were to penetrate by Lake Champlain. Sir William Johnson also held 
 out a promise of assistance by a large body of Indian allies, of whom 
 not more than six hundred accompanied the western army for a short 
 distance, and then returned to their villages and hunting grounds. 
 
 The Tree grand divisions, however, met in the neighborhood of 
 Montreal, and drove the enemy’s forces into the island, when, bein D 
 
 10 
 
u 
 
 70 JOURNAL OF 
 
 aux Noix, the wind sprang up in our favor ; — assisted in 
 
 by the wind and current, we reached St. John’s at 
 three o’clock. Before I speak of this fortress, it may th 
 
 not be improper to make some remarks on the navi- in 
 
 gation of Lake Champlain, the adjacent country, and oi 
 
 its appearance. The navigation appears to be very se 
 
 secure, as there are many inlets, coves, and harbors, ir 
 
 in which such vessels as will be used on the lake may n> 
 
 at all times find shelter; the water is deep, at least is 
 
 wherever we touched, close in with the land. There si 
 
 are several islands in the lake, the most considerable s 
 
 of which we saw ; the principal is Grand isle , — it % 
 
 deserves the appellation, being, as we were informed, t 
 
 twenty-seven miles long, and three or four miles wide. \ 
 
 Isle la Matte is the next largest, and Isle de Belle Cour 
 ranks after that. Isle la Matte we touched at ; the 
 others we could plainly distinguish. We saw r several i 
 
 of the islands on the eastern shore of the lake, some ( 
 
 of which appear as large as Poplar’s island ; but, t 
 
 having no person on board our boats acquainted with ( 
 
 the lake, we could not learn their names. The lake, E 
 
 on an average, may be six miles broad; in some 2 
 
 places it is above fifteen miles wide, particularly |- 
 
 about Cumberland bay and Schuyler’s island ; but in \ 
 
 others it is not three miles, and in the narrows not „ 
 
 above a mile and a half, to judge by the eye. As |. 
 
 you go down the lake, the mountains which hem it „ 
 
 surrounded and unable to resist. Monsieur Vaudrieul, the governor, 
 surrendered all Canada to the British on the 8th of September. It was ( 
 
 whilst Amherst was proceeding north, on this expedition, that he was j 
 
 forced to avoid the French at Isle aux Noix, and thus lost some valuable 
 troops in the perilous navigation of the St. Lawrence. This result con- 
 firms Allen’s view of the military importance of that island in all attacks 
 on Canada. 
 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 71 
 
 in on the east and west extend themselves wider, and 
 leave a greater extent of fine level land between 
 them and the lake on each shore. Some of these 
 mountains are remarkably high. In many places, on 
 or near their tops, the snow still remains. They form 
 several picturesque views, and contribute much, in 
 my opinion, to the beauty of the lake. The snow 
 not dissolving, in their latitude, at the end of April, 
 is a proof of their height : — the distance at which 
 some of these mountains are visible is a still 
 stronger proof. Several of them may be distinctly 
 seen from Montreal, which can not be at a less dis- 
 tance from the most remote than seventy or eighty 
 miles, and, I am inclined to think, considerably fur- 
 ther. If America should succeed, and establish liberty 
 throughout this part of the continent, I have not 
 the least doubt that the lands bordering on Lake 
 Champlain will be very valuable in a short time, and 
 that a great trade will be carried on over Lake 
 Champlain, between Canada and New York. An 
 easy water communication may be opened, at no 
 great expense, (if General Schuyler be not mistaken,) 
 between the cities of New York, Montreal, and Que- 
 bec, and several other places in Canada. Richelieu , 
 or Sorel river , from Isle wax Tetes to St. John’s, would 
 be esteemed a large river even in Maryland. The 
 navigation of it between those places is good, for the 
 current is not so strong as not to be stemmed with 
 oars, or a wind. At St. John’s the current is very 
 rapid, and continues so, sometimes more, sometimes 
 less, to Chamblay,— distant twelve miles from St. 
 John’s. Opposite St. John’s, I think the river is half 
 
 a mile wide. 
 
u 
 
 72 JOURNAL OF 
 
 The fortifications of St. John’s were not injured by 
 the siege ; — they consist of earth ramparts, enclosed 
 by a ditch filled with water; palisadoes, closely joined 
 together, are fastened at the base of the ramparts, 
 and confined by the weight of them projecting half 
 way over the ditch, to prevent an escalade. There 
 are, properly speaking, two forts, built around some 
 houses, which were converted into magazines and 
 barracks ; — the communication between the two is 
 secured by a strong enclosure of large stakes driven 
 deep into the ground, and as close as they can stand 
 together. A ditch runs along this fence. The houses 
 within the forts suffered much from our batteries, 
 which surrounded the forts, but the cannon was not 
 heavy enough to make any impression on the works. 
 Want of ammunition and provisions, and the inclem- 
 ency of the season, obliged the garrison to surrender ; 
 for the soldiers were constrained to hide themselves 
 in the cellars, which are bomb-proof, or lie behind the 
 mounds of earth thrown up within the forts, exposed 
 to the severity of the cold and rains, or run the risk 
 of having their brains beaten out in the houses by our 
 shot, or by the fragments of the walls and timbers, 
 and bursting of the bombs. As you go down the 
 river from Point au Per to St. John’s, you have a 
 distant and beautiful prospect of the mountains on 
 either side of the lake. After passing Isle aux Noix, 
 you have a fine view of the mountain of Cham- 
 blay, on the top of which is a lake stored with 
 excellent trout and perch. Having despatched a 
 messenger to Montreal for carriages for ourselves and 
 baggage, we crossed the river to go to a tavern on 
 the east side of the river, about a mile from the fort. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 73 
 
 The house belongs to Colonel Hazen, and has greatly 
 suffered by the neighborhood of the troops. There 
 is scarcely a whole pane of glass in the house, 
 the window-shutters and doors are destroyed, and 
 the hinges stolen; in short, it appears a perfect 
 wreck. This tavern is kept by a French woman, 
 married to one Donaho, now a prisoner in Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 28th. We remained at Colonel Hazen’s house. 
 Several batteaux with troops arrived this day and 
 yesterday evening from Ticonderoga, and most of 
 them fell down the river this day to Chamblay. The 
 land appears to be very fertile, and well adapted to 
 pasture ; the grass began to grow fast, although the 
 frost was not then out of the ground, the surface only 
 being thawed.* 
 
 29th. Left Colonel Hazen’s house ; crossed over to 
 St. John’s, where we found our caliches ready to 
 receive us. After an hour’s stay spent in getting our 
 baggage into the carts, and securing the remainder, — 
 which, for want of carts, w r e were obliged to leave 
 behind us,— we set off from St. John’s for La Prairie , 
 distant eighteen miles. I never travelled through 
 worse roads, or in worse carriages. The country is 
 one continued plain from St. John’s to La Prairie , 
 and two-thirds of the way uncultivated, though de- 
 serving the highest cultivation. About five or six 
 miles from La Prairie you meet with houses and 
 ploughed lands, interspersed with meadows, which 
 
 * Immediately on the arrival of the commissioners at Montreal, Mr. 
 John Carroll addressed a letter to his mother, dated 1st May, giving an 
 'interesting account of their journey to Canada. The reader will find it 
 in the American Archives, vol. v, p. 1168. 
 
u 
 
 74 JOURNAL OF 
 
 extend as far as you can see; — all this tract of land 
 is capable of being turned into fine meadow, and 
 when the country becomes more populous, and enjoys 
 a good government, I doubt not it will be all drained 
 and made into excellent meadow or pasturage. With- 
 out draining, it will be impossible to cultivate it in 
 any way. You have no view of the St. Lawrence, 
 or of Montreal, until you come within three or four 
 miles of La Prairie. At La Prairie the view of the 
 town and the river, and the island of Montreal, to- 
 gether with the houses on the eastern side of the St. 
 Lawrence, form a beautiful prospect. As far as the 
 view extends down the river, you discern houses on 
 either side of it, which are not divided from each 
 other by more than four acres, and commonly by not 
 more than two. From La Prairie you go slanting 
 down the river to Montreal ; this passage is computed 
 six miles, though the river, in a direct line across 
 from the eastern shore to the town, is not more than 
 three miles. Ships of three hundred tons can come 
 up to Montreal ; but they can not get up above the 
 town, or even abreast of it. The river where we 
 crossed is filled with rocks and shoals, which occa- 
 sion a very rapid current in several places. We were 
 received by General Arnold, on our landing, in the 
 most polite and friendly manner; conducted to head- 
 quarters, where a genteel company of ladies and gen- 
 tlemen had assembled to welcome our arrival. As 
 we went from the landing place to the general’s 
 house, the cannon of the citadel fired in compliment 
 to us as the commissioners of congress. We supped 
 at that general’s, and after supper were conducted, 
 by the general and other gentlemen, to our lodgings, — 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 75 
 
 the house of Mr. Thomas Walker, — the best built, and 
 perhaps the best furnished in this town.* 
 
 May llth. Dr. Franklin left Montreal to-day to go 
 to St. John’s, and from thence to congress. The doc- 
 tor’s declining state of health, and the bad prospect ol 
 our affairs in Canada, made him take this resolution.t 
 12 th. We set off from Montreal to go to La Prairie. 
 Mr. John Carroll went to join Dr. Franklin at St. 
 John’s, from whence they sailed the 13th.J 
 
 *See Arnold’s letter to Schuyler, Montreal, April 30, 1776 .—Archives, 
 vol. v, p. 1155. And see also. Commissioners’ letter to Congress, dated 
 Montreal, 1 May, 1776, with the memorandum of the council of war as 
 to fortifying Jaques Cartier and the falls of Richelieu, and the building 
 of six Tondolas. — American Archives, vol. v, p. 1166. 
 
 + Dr! Franklin’s health (as he had predicted at the outset) was im- 
 paired by the hardships of this journey. After being a fortnight at 
 Montreal, he set out homewards with Mr. John Carroll, who afterwards 
 became the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of the United States. 
 With some difficulty they reached Albany, whence they came to New 
 York in a private carriage furnished by General Schuyler. 
 
 In a letter, dated at New York on the 27th of May, he .hanks General 
 Schuyler and his wife for their attention to his comforts; and is glad 
 that he did not pursue his original intention of taking the genera s ® u y 
 and driving over the stones and gullies, in which he should probably 
 
 have overset and broken his bones. , „ , 
 
 In a letter of the same date, “to the Commissioners in Canada he 
 informs his friends of his arrival, and rather petulantly says that they 
 “left Mrs. Walker with her husband at Albany, from whence we came 
 
 i Her ,H,e 
 
 TlJat making themselves enemies, and l believe hve where they will, 
 a Jill never be long without them.” The Walkers are probably the 
 l ?y.r l \rZ to in the journal on the 29th of May —Works of Frank- 
 larnily allu . pp . 182, 183, Sparks’s edition. 
 
 hn, vol. i, P- > a ’ j attentions of the Rev. John Carroll 
 
76 
 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 13th. I went to St. John’s to examine into the state 
 of that garrison, and of the batteaux. There I met 
 with General Thompson and Colonel Sinclair, with 
 part of Thompson’s brigade. That evening I went 
 with them down the Sorel to Chamblay. Major 
 Wood and myself remained in the boat when we got 
 to St. Therese, where the rapids begin and continue, 
 with some interruptions, to Chamblay. Flat bot- 
 tomed boats may go down these rapids in the spring 
 of the year, when the water is high ; — even a large 
 gondola passed down them this spring ; but it would 
 be very difficult, if not impossible, to bring a gondola 
 up against the stream. I much question whether the 
 batteaux could be brought up ; certain it is that the 
 labor of towing them up, or setting them up the cur- 
 rent with setting poles, would be greater, and take 
 much more time, than carting them over the carrying 
 place from Chamblay to within three miles of St. 
 Therese. All our batteaux which shoot the rapids 
 and go down the Sorel to Chamblay and that are 
 brought up again to St. John’s, are carted over the 
 carrying place on frames constructed for the purpose. 
 It was proposed by some to bring a gondola , built at 
 Chamblay, over land three miles into the Sorel, three 
 miles below St. Therfese ; others were of opinion it 
 could be more easily towed up over the rapids. Cham- 
 
 lectual cultivation of that excellent clergyman. The following extract 
 from the doctor’s private journal atPassy in 1784, shows that he thought 
 of him constantly, and pressed his claims for the highest dignity of the 
 church in our confederacy. 
 
 “July 1st , (1784.) — The pope’s nuncio called, and acquainted me that 
 the pope had, on my recommendation, appointed Mr. John Carroll supe- 
 rior of the Catholic clergy in America, with many powers of bishop ; 
 and that, probably, he would be made a bishop, in partibus, before the 
 end of the year. — See Works of Franklin , vol. i, p. 581, Sparks’s edition. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 77 
 
 blayfort is a large square stone building, with square 
 towers at each angle, a place intended only as a pro- 
 tection against the savages. I saw the holes made 
 by a six pounder, when it was taken by Majoi Brown. 
 Major Stafford might have held out against the force 
 which besieged him at least for some days, in which 
 time he Avould probably have been relieved by Carle- 
 ton. But, by Carleton’s subsequent behaviour, when 
 he made an attempt to go to the relief of St. 
 John’s, I much question whether he would have taken 
 more effectual measures to rescue Stafford. Ihe 
 taking of Chamblay occasioned the taking ot bt. 
 John’s; against the latter we should not have suc- 
 ceeded without the six tons of gunpowder taken in 
 
 the former. „ . . 
 
 Uth I returned to Montreal by La Prairie, the 
 
 country between Chamblay and La Prairie is ex- 
 tremely fine and level, abounding with most excellent 
 meadow-ground as you approach the St. Lawrence 
 with rich arable land round about Chamblay. 
 country lying between the St. Lawrence and the Sore 
 is the best part of Canada, and produces the most and 
 best wSc In the year 1771 four hundred and sev- 
 enty-one thousand bushels of wheat were expor e 
 ou/of Canada, of which two-thirds, it is computed, 
 
 were made in the Sorel district* 
 
 out This day Mr. Chase set off with me lor tlie 
 mouth of the Sorel ; we embarked irom Mon £eal in 
 one of our batteaux, and went in it as far as the point 
 of land on the north shore of the St. Lawrence oppo- 
 
 * The commissioners wrote to C ° U 10th from same 
 May.— See American Archives, • . P unpublished.) And 
 
 place. — See American Archives, vol. v., P- * 
 a<rain on the 16th May—M- P- 48 ~ 
 
 11 
 
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 78 JOURNAL OF 
 
 site to the northern extremity of the Island of Mon- 
 treal ; here, the wind being against us, we took post 
 and travelled on the north side of the St. Lawrence 
 as low down as La Nore , where we got into a canoe, 
 and were paddled down and across the St. Lawrence 
 to our camp at the mouth of the Sorel; — it was a 
 perfect calm, the distance is computed at nine miles. 
 The country on each side the St. Lawrence is level, 
 rich, and thickly seated ; indeed, so thickly seated, 
 that the houses form almost one continued row. In 
 going from La Nore, to the mouth of the Sorel, we 
 passed by Brown’s battery (as it is called), although 
 it never had a cannon mounted on it. To this battery 
 without cannon, and to a single gondola, ten or twelve 
 vessels, under the command of Colonel Prescott, sur- 
 rendered. Major Brown, when the vessels came near 
 to his battery, sent an officer on board requesting 
 Prescott to send another on shore to view his works. 
 It is difficult to determine which was greatest, the 
 impudence of Brown in demanding a surrender, or the 
 cowardice of the officer who, going back to Prescott, 
 represented the difficulty of passing the battery so 
 great and hazardous, that Prescott and all his officers 
 chose to capitulate. Brown requested the officer who 
 went on shore to wait a little until he saw the two 
 thirty-two pounders, which were within half a mile, 
 coming from Chamblay; — says he, “If you should 
 chance to escape this battery, which is my small bat- 
 tery, I have a grand battery at the mouth of the Sorel, 
 which will infallibly sink all your vessels.” His grand 
 battery was as badly provided with cannon as his 
 little battery, for not a single gun was mounted on 
 either. This Prescott treated our prisoners with 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 79 
 
 great insolence and brutality. His behaviour justifies 
 the old observation, that cowards are generally cruel. 
 We found the discipline of our camp very^ remiss, 
 and every thing in confusion General Thomas 
 had but lately resigned the command to 1 hompson, 
 by whose activity things were soon put on a better 
 
 2 2d We left our camp and travelled by land along 
 the eastern bank of the Sorel. At five or six miles 
 from the month of the Sorel the country grows rich 
 and continues so all the way to Chamblay. Near 
 the mouth of the river it is very sandy. Ibis part ol 
 the country is very populous, the villages are arg 
 and neat, and joined together by a contmMd ra 
 of single bouses, chiefly farmers houses. These are 
 the rich men in Canada: the seignuurs are in genera 
 tor They were constrained by the ordinances of 
 ?he kimr of France to lease their lands for ever, re- 
 servinAwo dollars for every ninety acres, and some 
 other "trifling perquisites, as tolls for grinding wheat 
 the tenants being obliged * 
 
 farmers !T Canada can not be possessed of less than 
 arnmion sterling, in 
 
 HZ- interest, t^end it’in the purchase of 
 i l« Before we left the camp we ordered a d 
 
 tachroent up to Montreal under the 
 
 C °’„°t and, in conjunc- 
 
 m ’ , drit off a party of the eighth regiment, who, 
 tion, to di * i cqva^es find some 
 
 rough 
 
80 
 
 o 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 the cowardice of Major Butterfield* and had ad- 
 vanced, on the 25th instant, within fifteen miles of 
 Montreal. 
 
 23d. We got early this morning to Chamblay, 
 where we found all things in much confusion, extreme 
 disorder, and negligence, our credit sunk, and no 
 money to retrieve it with. We were obliged to pay 
 three silver dollars for the carriage of three barrels 
 of gunpowder from Little Chamblay river to Lon- 
 gueil, the officer who commanded the guard not 
 having a single shilling. 
 
 2Ath. Colonel De Haas’s detachment got into Mon- 
 treal this evening ; the day before, we, also, arrived 
 there, having crossed the St. Lawrence in a canoe 
 from Longueil. 
 
 25th. In the evening of this day Colonel De Haas’s 
 detachment marched out of Montreal to join General 
 Arnold at La Chine; they were detained from want 
 of many necessaries, which we were obliged to pro- 
 cure for them, General Wooster being without mo- 
 ney, or pretending to be so.f The enemy, hearing 
 
 * Arnold had left Quebec on account of his suffering from a severe 
 wounds but more probably in consequence of his jealousy and discon- 
 tent with General Wooster. At Montreal he was again in command, 
 and, for the results of his course after the disaster at the Cedars, the 
 reader is referred to his life, in Sparks’s American Biography, vol. iii, 
 p. 56, et seq. 
 
 At the Cedars, nearly four hundred men surrendered, by a disgraceful 
 capitulation, and a hundred more were barbarously murdered by savages. 
 
 fin a letter from the commissioners to congress, dated at Montreal on 
 the 27th May, ? /6, they deal with General Wooster in unmeasured 
 terms. “General Thomas,” they say, “is now at Chamblay under 
 the small-pox. Being taken with that disorder, he left the camp at 
 Sorel, and wrote to General Wooster to come and take command. 
 
 \\ hen the interest of our country and the safety of your army are at 
 stake, we think it very improper to conceal our sentiments, either with 
 
81 
 
 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 from our enemies in Montreal, of this reinforcement, 
 had retreated precipitately to Fort St. Anne’s, at the 
 southern extremity of the Island of Montreal, and 
 from thence had crossed over to Quinze Chiens , on 
 the north side of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 29th. We left Montreal this day at three o’clock,* 
 to go to Chamblay, to be present at a council of war 
 of the generals and field-officers, for concerting the 
 operations of the campaign. 
 
 30(/i. The council of war was held this day, and 
 determined to maintain possession of the country 
 between the St. Lawrence and Sorel, if possible ; — 
 in the meantime to dispose matters so as to make an 
 orderly retreat out of Canada. 
 
 31s£. Set off from Chamblay for St. John’s; — all 
 things there in confusion : — slept at Mrs. Donaho’s. 
 
 regard to persons or things. General Wooster is, in our opinion, unfit— 
 totally unfit — to command your army and conduct the war. We have, 
 hitherto, prevailed on him to remain in Montreal. His stay in this colo- 
 ny is unnecessary, and even prejudicial to our affairs. We would 
 therefore humbly advise his recall.”—MS. letter in the Stale department 
 at Washington. It will be published by Mr. Force in the sixth volume of 
 the American Archives, (the proof-sheets of which I have seen,) at p- 589. 
 
 Wooster requested an inquiry into his conduct as commander of the 
 forces in Canada. The matter was referred by congress to a committee, 
 which, upon full investigation, declared that nothing censurable appeare 
 against him.-See Journals of Congress, August tfth, 1776. 
 his commission in the continental army, and was appointed fhs major- 
 general* of the Connecticut militia.-See Sparks’s Life and WnUngs of 
 
 ^r^llnSt^aspirited action between the Con- 
 nelut troops and the English force under Governor Tryon, near 
 
 D ““Setter from the Commissioners to Congress, dated 27 May, 1776, 
 * See letter trom i . rican Archives, p. 590. This is their 
 
 m the sixt i v0 d is very valuable, as containing a pretty full 
 
 last letter ^ni Canada and y ^ the condition of the 
 
 X Ittstin It extracted from in the introductory memoir. 
 
82 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 June 1st. Crossed over this morning to St. John’s, 
 where General Sullivan, with fourteen hundred men, 
 had arrived in the night of the 31st past; saw them 
 all under arms. It began to rain at nine o’clock, and 
 continued raining very hard until late in the even- 
 ing ; — slept at Donaho’s. 
 
 2d. Crossed over again to the camp ; took leave of 
 General Sullivan, and sailed from St. John’s at six 
 this morning, with a fair wind ; — got to Point au Fer 
 at one o’clock ; — got to Cumberland head about 
 seven o’clock, P. M.; set off from thence about nine, 
 and rowed all night. We divided our boat’s crew 
 into two watches. 
 
 3c?. Breakfasted at Willsborough ; rowed on and 
 received despatches by Major Hickes ; got to Crown 
 Point half-past six o’clock, P. M. Set off at eight, 
 rowed all night, and arrived at one o’clock in the night 
 at Ticonderoga, where we found General Schuyler. 
 
 4 th. Set off this morning at five with General 
 Schuyler, for Skeenesborough, and got there by two 
 o’clock. The lake, as you approach Skeenesborough, 
 grows narrower and shallower; indeed, within five 
 or six miles of Skeenesborough, it has all the appear- 
 ance of a river. We hauled our batteau over the 
 carrying place at Skeenesborough into Wood creek. 
 This carrying place is not above three hundred feet 
 across ; a lock may be made for two hundred pounds 
 at Skeenesborough, by which means a continued 
 navigation would be effected for batteaux from one 
 Chesshire’s into Lake Champlain. Major Skeene 
 has built a saw-mill, grist mill, and a forge at the 
 entrance of Wood creek into Lake Champlain. Set 
 off from Skeenesborough at four o’clock, rowed up 
 
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 83 
 
 Wood creek ten miles, to one Boyle’s, here we lay all 
 night on board our boat. 
 
 5th. Set off at three in the morning, and continued 
 rowing up the creek to one Chesshire’s. This man 
 lives near Fort Ann, built by Governor Nicholson in 
 1709. The distance from Skeenesborough to Chess- 
 hire’s, is twenty-two miles, — by land, fourteen only ; 
 from this it appears that Wood creek has many 
 windings, in fact, I never saw a more serpentine 
 river. The navigation is somewhat obstructed by 
 trees drifted and piled across the creek ; however, we 
 met with little difficulty but in one place, where we 
 were obliged to quit our boat, and carry it through a 
 narrow gut, which was soon performed by our crew. 
 Two hundred men would clear this creek and remove 
 every obstruction in six days’ time. This measure 
 has been recommended by the commissioners to con- 
 gress, and congress has complied with the recom- 
 mendation, and orders will soon be given to General 
 Schuyler to clear it, and render the navigation 
 easy. 
 
 I set off with General Schuyler, on foot, from Chess - 
 hire’s, at one o’clock ; walked seven miles, and then 
 met horses coming from Jones’s to us. Jones’s house 
 is distant nine miles from Chesshire’s. We dined at 
 Jones’s, and rode, after dinner, to Fort Edward; — 
 the distance is computed four miles; — Mr. Chase 
 joined us this evening. He took the lower road and 
 was obliged to walk part of the way. 
 
 6th. Parted with General Schuyler this morning; 
 he returned to Fort George on Lake George. We 
 rode to Saratoga, where we got by seven o’clock, but 
 did not find the amiable family at home. We were 
 
■■i 
 
 * 
 
 84 JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 constrained to remain here all this day, waiting the 
 arrival of our servants and baggage. 
 
 7th. Our servants and baggage being come up, we 
 left Saratoga this morning at nine; took boat and 
 went down Hudson’s river, through all the rapids, to* 
 Albany. The distance is computed thirty-six miles. 
 We arrived at Albany half an hour past five. At six 
 o’clock we set off for New York in a sloop : which we 
 luckily found ready to sail; got that evening and 
 night twenty-four miles from Albany. 
 
 8th. Found ourselves, this morning, twenty- four 
 miles from Albany ; — at seven in the morning wind 
 breezed up, had a fine gale, and got below the high- 
 lands ; — a very great run. 
 
 9th. Arrived at New York at one o’clock, P. M. ; — 
 Waited on General Washington at Motier’s; — saw 
 Generals Gates and Putnam, and my old acquaint- 
 ance and friend, Mr. Moylan. About six o’clock in 
 the evening got into General Washington’s barge, in 
 company with Lord Stirling,* and was rowed round 
 by Staten Island and the Kilns, within two miles of 
 Elizabeth town, where we got by ten at night. 
 
 10th. Set off from Elizabeth town half-past five. 
 Got to Bristol at eight o’clock, P. M. : — at nine, 
 embarked in our boats, and were rowed down the 
 Delaware to Philadelphia, where we arrived at two 
 o’clock in the night. 
 
 * Lord Stirling was a brigadier-general in the American army, and 
 stationed at New York, where he had command for a short time, after the 
 departure of General Lee. — See Washington's Writings , vol. iii, p. 318; 
 and Franklin's Wntings, vol. viii, p. 180, note , ( Sparks's edition.) On 
 the 27th of March, 1776, Franklin had apprised him by letter of the 
 proposed journey to Canada, and desired him to procure lodgings for 
 the party in New York, as well as to engage a sloop to take them up 
 the river to Albany. 
 
. y\ .. - r-, . . 
 
 ^691371 
 
u