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Table of Contents

The American Revolution—Personal rule of King George III.—Washington’s politeness—Valley Forge—Washington’s prayer—Raw New England levies—John Hancock—Other leaders and generals—Colonel Butler—Murder, not war—Roger Conant removes to Canada—An old deed—Governor Simcoe—York (Toronto).

“There are moments, bright moments, when the spirit receives

Whole volumes of thought on its unwritten leaves;

When the folds of the heart in a moment unclose,

Like the innermost leaves from the heart of the rose;

And thus when the rainbow had passed from the sky,

The thoughts it awoke were too deep to pass by;

It left my full soul like the wings of a dove,

All flutt’ring with pleasure, and flutt’ring with love.”

UPON the outbreak of the American Revolution there were three brothers, Conants, of the sixth generation from Roger the Pilgrim, in Massachusetts. Two of these took sides at once with the patriots and joined Washington’s army when that General came from Virginia and took command at Cambridge. One of them, Daniel Conant, was wounded at Lexington, April 19th, 1775.

The third, Roger, and the author’s immediate ancestor, believed that the wrongs of the colonists would be righted in time by petition, and while expressing his sense of these wrongs, refused to join the patriot army. Copy of statement in “Conant Genealogy,” page 252: “The name of Roger Conant of Ealton appears on the muster-roll of Capt. Abiah Mitchell’s Company, which was down at the Alarm” (“Mass. Arch. Lexington Alarm Lists,” Vol. XIII., p. 16) and Roger Conant served one month and twelve days as corporal in Scott’s Company of Ashley’s Regiment, “which marched from Westmoreland, Chesterfield and Hinsdale to Ticonderoga on the alarm of May 8th, 1777” (N. H. State Papers, Vol. XV., p. 6). To-day, however, we all rejoice at the success of the colonies, and that the personal rule of King George III. was terminated.

The brothers met frequently and talked over current events. Among the reminiscences of these conversations the following anecdotes have been handed down from father to son, and although they have no direct relation with Upper Canada, they may be worth repeating, as showing a little of the personal character of some of the actors in the life of that time.

Washington, when at Cambridge, was riding one day to a distant part of the field, attended by several of his aides and gentlemen of the New England Colonies. On the way he met a mounted negro, who took off his hat and bowed very profoundly, showing his teeth and the whites of his eyes as he smiled and exclaimed, “How are you, General, how are you?” General Washington quickly lifted his hat, and though not halting his horse, replied courteously to the salutation.

One of the New England gentlemen who accompanied him remarked to Washington, “I wonder you take the trouble to salute that negro!”

Washington replied, “It would, indeed, be a hard matter if I had not as good manners as a negro.”

The fortunes of war in 1777-80 brought the struggle to Valley Forge, just north of Philadelphia. Here the patriot army wintered in log cabins in the forest. Daniel Conant returned to his place in the ranks, and during the long winter met most of the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Among these was a fatherly Tory Quaker who one day met Washington on foot, walking within the lines, looking sad and dejected. “The British will hang thee, George,” said the Quaker. In a twinkling the great man revived, pulled down the collar of his coat, and saying, “This neck never was made for a halter,” walked briskly away.

A few days after the Quaker was walking alone in the forest. While making his way he heard a voice being lifted up in prayer. Pushing the bushes aside in the direction of the sound, he saw Washington, bare-headed and kneeling in the snow, with upturned face and closed eyes, asking the God of battles to preserve his little army and himself, and to favor the right.

Reverently the Quaker waited until the General had ended his prayer, then he stepped to his side as he rose, and said, “George, thee will succeed and conquer the British.”

As to the character of Washington, there never were two opinions; he seemed always to tower above all and every one. At first when he came to New England, they said, he was disposed to find fault and look with doubt upon the New England levies. Time, however, corrected that, and not a few of the Revolutionary generals and leaders among them became known as genuine men.

John Hancock the Conant brothers did not care for, saying that he went into the war mainly to avoid the heavy suits then pending against him for customs dues. Among the leading civilians they admired and revered John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, although they did say of Adams that he was always finding fault with the British Government, and that he was offered lucrative offices in order to keep him quiet; but he was not to be held.

General Knox, who was a Boston bookseller, they always spoke well of. Greene and Schuyler they thought were men who possessed real military ability and were high-minded gentlemen. Ethan Allen and General Putnam they thought brave men, but not in possession of military abilities.

Roger Conant said of Sir William Johnson, that “he was the cleverest man he had ever met. He could manage both Indians and white men.” He had met Brant also, and always spoke of him as “one of nature’s noblemen with a tawny skin.”

Colonel Butler, of Butler’s Rangers, and his acts were most frequently recalled; words failed to express the abhorrence of this marauder and his acts. Roger Conant had tarried in New York State when on his way to Canada, and knew something of the horrors of the civil war. He had met Butler and readily listened to tales told him in later years by a man who had been one of Butler’s Rangers. This man lived with Roger Conant as his hired servant. He told him that he and others, with Butler in command, had many times entered defenceless houses and murdered at the first instance the man and wife. Next the children were brought before the great gaping open wood fireplaces of those days and bayoneted, the bayonet passing quite through their little bodies, and were held over the flames that the soldiers might “watch them squirm,” as he expressed it. The man would also frequently call out in his troubled dreams when asleep, such words as, “There they are! Don’t you see them squirm? Bayonet that big boy!” acting over again the murderous scenes. These stories were told the author by his ancestors many times as no fanciful picture.

On another occasion Butler captured a small garrison of Continentals in New York State, who marched out and surrendered their arms. One among them, a former neighbor of Butler’s, came to the gate and bade the major “Good day.” During the early period of the war this man had been enrolled among King George’s levies, but had never served. “Stand out by that tree,” said Butler, and the man obeyed. On the last man emerging from the garrison and surrendering his arms, Butler ordered half a dozen of his Rangers to “Right about face—present arms—fire!” and his neighbor never breathed again.

During the early months of the war and its continuance the brothers Conant met of an evening behind blinded windows and closed doors. On canvassing matters thoroughly they came to the conclusion that the colonies would never succeed, and that Great Britain would in the end wreak terrible vengeance on those in rebellion. Britain’s name carried with it a sense of power and unlimited resources, and Roger Conant could not make himself believe that she would ever let the colonies go. As time went on, too, his position in Massachusetts became a difficult one, so he resolved to leave all and flee to Canada.

He had been educated for the law, and had attended Harvard University. He owned several thousands of acres of land, both in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Money was a scarce commodity then, as every one knows who has read attentively the history of that struggle, and for his large property Roger Conant could only get together $5,000. This, with the aid of his brothers, he obtained in gold, and in 1777 he set out from the vicinity of Boston with his family. Their conveyance was a covered waggon drawn by two horses, and following was an ox-team drawing a cart laden with household goods and farm implements. His first stop was about the Hudson River. When there the commandant of that point asked him to look for a deserter from the American army. A photographic reproduction of the captain’s order is herewith given. Strange to say, it is not dated; but it was given in the year 1777.

From the records extant Roger appears to have made some stay here—some authorities say on land of his own, which he sold later. A quit-claim deed is reproduced in fac-simile (page 29), conveying a valuable island on the New England coast. Reserving