Читать книгу The Life of John Graves Simcoe - William Renwick Riddell - Страница 10

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The Queen’s Rangers was a partisan corps^[1] originally raised in 1776 by Colonel Robert Rogers in Connecticut and the vicinity of New York—its functions being to range over or scour the country, surprise the outposts and foraging parties of the enemy and the like. It was composed at first of American Loyalists only and at one period mustered over 400 men; the members of this corps were men of the greatest activity and daring, firm loyalty and devotion to the King and to their duty as they saw it; and they had profound contempt for the rebels, whom they looked upon as rascals and traitors.

After considerable service under Rogers, the command was, in 1777, given to Colonel French and afterwards to Captain Wemyss of the 40th with the rank of Major: by this time the personnel had changed; many Southern gentlemen who had joined Lord Dunmore and distinguished themselves under his orders received commissions in the Queen’s Rangers in place of those who had been found incompetent. Moreover there were added some volunteers from the British Army; the numbers were kept up by the circumstance that to this corps was given the exclusive privilege of enlisting “Old-countrymen” and deserters from the Revolutionary Army. The Loyalists formed at all times the mass of the Regiment and were the source of its discipline and chief value, while those recruited from the army and otherwise were well aware of the arduous and dangerous work in which they would be engaged and joined only from love of the service and desire to distinguish themselves in it^[2].

Sir William Howe in consequence of their behaviour at Brandywine had promised that all promotions should go in the Regiment; and this had the effect of still further stimulating their zeal.

Shortly after Simcoe assumed command, the Regiment was increased by the addition of a company under Captain Smyth, making eleven companies which were equalized—the eleventh under Captain McKay being formed of Highlanders chiefly from North Carolina. This company was furnished with Highland dress and a piper—it was stationed on the left flank of the Regiment. The Regiment had its Grenadier and Light Infantry Companies and its eight other companies—the ordinary uniform being green for the purposes of concealment.

Simcoe, declining the proposition of Sir William Erskine to add dragoons to his Regiment, formed a mounted body from his own men; such men were selected for this service as the officers recommended for spirit and presence of mind and they were put under the direction of Kelly, a Sergeant of distinguished gallantry; they proved of great service in reconnoitring and outpost work.

Simcoe paid the greatest attention to the discipline^[3] and internal economy of his command and saw to it that the ordinary course of rotation (except in ordinary duties) should not prevail but that those officers should be selected for any service who appeared to be the most capable of executing it. The men were relieved of most of the mechanical manual drill so dear to the regular army officer: a few motions of the manual exercise were considered sufficient, but the men were carefully trained in firing; and above all, attention was paid to the use of the bayonet—an almost total reliance upon that weapon being taught and insisted upon. Sergeant’s guards were in a manner abolished, Simcoe holding the vigilance of a gentleman and an officer transcendently superior to that of any non-commissioned officer whatsoever—and it is to this that he attributes in great measure the striking fact that no sentinel or guard of the Queen’s Rangers was ever surprised—they moreover never gave a false alarm, and only one of their patrols was ever taken and that because a Cavalry Captain neglected Simcoe’s principles.

Towards the end of October, the Rangers were ordered to patrol beyond Frankford, then four miles from, but now a suburb and substation of, Philadelphia; and for some time, they ranged the country in front of Philadelphia.

In a skirmish in which the Rangers, as part of General Gray’s column were engaged, December 8, one of these mounted men was shot by a Hessian Yager by mistake, as he was wearing a helmet taken from a rebel patrol some days before; this determined Simcoe to provide high caps for his mounted men, making them Huzzars, their number being soon increased to thirty. Many recruits were obtained from deserters from Washington’s army at Valley Forge, and the corps kept up its numbers though constantly employed in arduous and dangerous operations.

When Sir William Howe resigned his command in 1778, Sir Henry Clinton, who succeeded, gave Simcoe the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, antedating his commission to those of all Provincial Lieutenant-Colonels.

Simcoe took part in Abercrombie’s expedition against the Americans under General Lacy near Crooked Billet; his march and a stratagem whereby he saved his command received the warm approbation of his superior officer, and are mentioned with admiration by the historian^[4].

The Army evacuated Philadelphia, June 18, 1778; and on the 27th, Simcoe received a slight wound in the arm in a skirmish, causing him excruciating pain and compelling him to retire to the baggage. He therefore missed the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, in which his Rangers were led by Captain Ross. He was able to resume command, July 1, and he marched with Sir William Erskine to Sandy Hook forming the rearguard—they then went to New York, went up to Morris’s house and encamped there.

It seemed to Simcoe likely that the British Army would leave America and the war would be carried on in the West Indies; he accordingly applied for permission with his Corps and other Loyalists to join Colonel John Butler who, with his Rangers and Indians, was busy on the upper parts of the Delaware—but the Commander-in-Chief told him that^[5] “he much applauded his spirit but thought he would find sufficient employment for him in his army.”

Simcoe fell ill and was unable to resume his command until July 14—Washington being at White Plains, the Rangers had no rest. His favourite Sergeant Kelly being taken prisoner, and threatened with death as he had formerly been in the rebel service, Simcoe offered in exchange a Sergeant lately taken, and threatened that if Kelly were executed he would leave to the mercy of his soldiers the next six rebels who should fall into his hands—this soon brought about Kelly’s release.

By reason of Lord Cathcart being given the rank of Colonel of Provincials, and Simcoe’s feeling at Cathcart’s ranking him, Clinton, while declining to give him the same rank as Cathcart, offered to make him Colonel—this Simcoe declined, to his own lasting regret.

In an engagement, August 20, Simcoe was again wounded—by Nimham, an Indian Chief, who had been in England, but had joined the enemy with some of his tribe: Nimham was killed by Simcoe’s orderly huzzar. The wound was slight and Simcoe did not require to give up his station.

When General James Grant, who had been appointed to command the expeditionary force sent from New York to the West Indies (which captured St. Lucia in December, 1778), was about to embark, he offered Simcoe to take him and his corps among the picked troops selected for that purpose; but Simcoe declined this very advantageous offer which carried with it a certainty of British rank, because he thought it would not be just “to the many very valuable native Americans who were among their non-commissioned officers and soldiers”; he was allowed to remain in the Rangers although the 40th Regiment, in which he was Captain, sailed with Grant.

He received orders to take up his winter quarters at Oyster Bay on Long Island, which he did. Recruiting was slow and the Rangers were handicapped by the greater bounties given for Regiments then being formed than the Government would allow the Provincials; Simcoe organized a recruiting fund to add to the government bounties and thereby make it possible to obtain recruits. To this fund, he and his officers contributed liberally, and recruiting became very effective^[6].

May 2, 1779, the Commander-in-Chief in General Orders announced that as a reward for the faithful service and spirited conduct of the Provincials, His Majesty had decided, inter alia, that the officers of the Provincial Corps should rank as juniors of their rank and if disabled in service should receive the same gratuity as the officers of the established army—that with the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief their rank should be made permanent in America and on the reduction of their regiments they should be allowed half pay as in the case of officers of the British reduced regiments. The Queen’s Rangers were recommended by Clinton and were styled the First American Regiment.

The Rangers, then consisting of 360 rank and file, left their cantonments, May 18, 1779, and after minor engagements joined the army of Lord Cornwallis in October. Not long afterwards Simcoe fell into an ambuscade: seeing some men concealed behind logs and bushes and trying to evade them his horse was killed and he fell: when he recovered his senses stunned by the fall he found himself prisoner. When he was lying senseless on the ground a boy had been prevented from bayonetting him, by a statement, “Let him alone, the rascal is dead enough”, and another person regretted that he had not shot him through the head, as he would have done had he known him to be a Colonel, but he “thought all Colonels wore lace.”

He was in great danger of violence on account of the fury of the populace of that district aroused by the death of Captain Vorhees, who had been killed a few days before by one of the Rangers; but Governor Livingston intervened and he was sent to Brunswick. October 28, he was removed on parol to Bordentown “to a tavern kept by Col. Hoogland of the Jersey militia, by whom he was treated with great civility”, but the principal people of Bordentown were very violent. Many unfounded stories were current of Simcoe’s cruelties, and some rebel Justices anxiously endeavoured to obtain affidavits to support them, but failed—many of their party in Pennsylvania offered to give evidence of his humanity and spoke most favorably of his conduct.

He was, however, made a vicarious sufferer in November. John Leshier had murdered a Loyalist and was confined in irons in New York: Captain Nathaniel Randal, the skipper of a vessel, was also in prison in New York—in retaliation for the sufferings of these two persons, it was ordered by the Council of the State of New Jersey that two British Officers should be put in close confinement and ironed. Col. Billop, Colonel of Staten Island Militia, and Simcoe were selected as the victims: they were sent to the Common Jail at Burlington; Billop had irons put on his hands and feet and chained to the floor in a close room; he received only bread and water—all to “teach Britons to act like men of humanity”; Simcoe was used as an ordinary prisoner.

Simcoe moreover was informed that if Lieutenant Hele (then imprisoned at Philadelphia awaiting the fate which should befall Cunningham, imprisoned for piracy in England) should die—and he was dangerously ill—he was talked of as a proper substitute for the Lieutenant; and he was at midnight removed from the room he had occupied to the felons’ cell. He found means of receiving the earliest information of Cunningham’s fate; and determined in case of news of Cunningham’s execution arriving at Philadelphia, instantly to make his escape. His plans were all made: but he decided to apply to Washington himself through Major André. No answer was made by Washington to his application, but in a few days Billop and he were exchanged^[7], Simcoe leaving the Jail at Burlington, December 27, 1779.

He was not yet safe: on October 26, he had been engaged in an operation with his Huzzars and pretended to be of the American Forces—one of the Huzzars took “some thousand pounds of paper money .... from a passenger”, and Simcoe told the man “that he would be answerable to give him the money that night at Brunswick, where he would quarter”; but, unfortunately, an inhabitant knew Simcoe and sent word to Governor Livingston as soon as Simcoe’s party marched. When Simcoe was released from Jail, it was reported that the person from whom the money had been taken had applied to the Governor to confine him until the money was returned, he having promised to pay it at Brunswick. “The promise of paying any debt by the laws of New England rendered the person who gave it liable for the payment; but this custom had never prevailed in the Jersies”^[8]. However his apprehension proved without foundation and Simcoe left Brunswick: he was received with great joy by his friends at Richmond (now part of New York City) on the 31st and found that Clinton had reported to Lord George Germain, the Secretary of State, that he was dead^[9].

He applied to Clinton and Cornwallis to be allowed to join the Army to the southward, but did not succeed; and he was engaged in military operations until obliged to go to New York to recover his health, June 25-July 19, he rejoined his corps and with it crossed at Flushing to Staten Island. Next month, Clinton augmented the Rangers by two troops of dragoons and appointed Simcoe Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry, and the following month removal was made to Jamaica. Clinton entrusted him with full knowledge of the ill-fated negotiations through André with Benedict Arnold and told him what service his Rangers would be employed on in case these negotiations were successful. When André was captured, Simcoe offered to attempt his rescue “not doubting to succeed in whatever a similar force could effect”: he protested in letters to Col. Henry Lee against the “useless murder of Major André which would almost annihilate ..... the wish of a reconciliation and speedy reunion with ..... revolted fellow-subjects in America”^[10]. He ordered that the Rangers should “be provided with black and white feathers as mourning for the late Major André, an officer whose superior integrity and uncommon ability did honour to his country and to human nature”.

December 11, 1780, the Rangers embarked under General Benedict Arnold in his successful raid on Richmond, Virginia—the next year, 1781, they joined Cornwallis and saw some severe fighting^[11]. The British Army under Cornwallis being stationed at Yorktown, Virginia, at the end of August the advance ships of the French Fleet blocked up the York River and the British Army was in great danger. Cornwallis asked Simcoe whether he thought he could escape with the cavalry and Simcoe answered “without the smallest doubt”; but he was not allowed to try. Washington invested Yorktown, September 23. The health of Simcoe began totally to fail under the incessant fatigues, both of body and mind, which he had undergone for years; but when it was reported that Tarleton had suffered a defeat, he went himself to the redoubt occupied by the Rangers although he had to be carried from his bed to his horse. However he was soon obliged from total want of health to give up his command of Gloucester to Tarleton.

Uniforms of Queen’s Rangers, Revolutionary War

Cornwallis capitulated, October 19, 1781, refusing to allow Simcoe to endeavour to escape with his corps in some of the boats built by Arnold: the “corps consisted of Loyalists, the objects of the enemy’s civil persecution”. Simcoe himself by reason of his dangerous condition of health was permitted to sail for New York in the Bonetta, the sea-voyage being, in the opinion of the physicians, the only chance of saving his life; and with him sailed as many of the Rangers and of other corps, deserters from the enemy, as the ship would hold.

On arriving at New York, Simcoe was permitted by Clinton to return to England; December 19, 1781, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, thereby giving him in the Regular Army and in the whole British world, the rank which had been made permanent for him in America in 1779 and the duties and title of which he had performed and enjoyed from 1777.

It may be well to give the subsequent history of the Queen’s Rangers.

When Simcoe left for England, Captain Saunders arriving from Yorktown took command of that part of the corps which had come to New York in the Bonetta: Sir Henry Clinton, who resigned his command, was succeeded by Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester; Carleton does not seem to have had a high opinion of the usefulness of the Corps for we find him, March 31, 1783, directing their commanding officer to encourage his men to enlist in a Regiment then being recruited—a direction probably without precedent and certainly humiliating. Later, Carleton blaming the Rangers for plundering and marauding on Long Island, where they were cantoned with other troops, refused their officers their just promotions—and it was in vain that Capt. Saunders protested against “the falsehood and malevolence of the representations and requested an enquiry so that the officers might meet their accusers face to face.” Fortunately a Court Martial established that the depredations had been committed by soldiers of the Legion and not by the Rangers. Clinton made representations to the Home Authorities and, December 25, 1782, the rank of the officers was made universally permanent and “The Queen’s Rangers, cavalry and infantry, were honorably enrolled in the British Army”^[12].

At the Peace, the Corps was disbanded and many of the officers and most of the soldiers settled on lands in Nova Scotia.

The conduct of Carleton in respect to the Queen’s Rangers seems to have been the beginning of the personal ill will between him and Simcoe which had marked effect in their future lives.

The whole story of Simcoe and the Queen’s Rangers proves him to have been an indefatigable and able officer, with great skill and judgment, always awake to opportunities afforded by the negligence of the enemy and never affording such opportunity to the enemy; courteous and humane, he was nevertheless firm and even ruthless when circumstances called for severity. His frequent ill-health did not prevent his efficiency being apparent: he was a credit to his country and her Army and he well deserved the praise of the Duke of Northumberland: “He is possessed of every good quality which can recommend him to your friendship. He is brave, human, sensible and honest”^[13].

The Colours of the famous Queen’s Rangers were for many years in the main hall at Wolford, the home of John Graves Simcoe. When after the Great War, his great-great-grandson, Linton Simcoe, found it necessary to sell the family heirlooms, including even the war relics of his distinguished ancestor, the Colours and swords carried by Simcoe during the Revolutionary War were purchased and formally presented in February, 1924, to the Toronto Public Library. No more fitting place could be found for them; in the Reference Library are documents relating to the activities of the quondam commander of the Queen’s Rangers as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; in the J. Ross Robertson Historical Collection of Pictures are a life-size portrait of Simcoe in regimentals, and many reproductions of drawings by Mrs. Simcoe, the originals of which are in the King’s Library, British Museum, and which portray Canadian scenes and settlements in the closing years of the eighteenth century.

We shall see later in the Text that another corps called the Queen’s Rangers was, at Simcoe’s suggestion, organized in England and arrived in Canada in 1792; it was disbanded in 1802, having done no actual fighting but having been engaged for the most part in clearing the forest and in constructing roads and bridges.

Still a third Queen’s Rangers came into being during the troublous times of 1837. It was commanded by Col. Samuel Peters Jarvis, whose father, William Jarvis, had served in the original corps. This force took part in the encounter at Montgomery’s Tavern, and afterwards was sent to guard the Niagara Frontier. Subsequently returning to Toronto, the corps was disbanded in 1838, except the Toronto City Guard which remained organized for some years thereafter.

The Queen’s Rangers again came into existence in 1925 through the merging of the West Toronto Regiment and the 2nd Battalion York Rangers, when the King “approved of the proposed formation of a new regiment at Toronto to be known as the Queen’s Rangers”.