Haldimand County

The greater part of the excesses complained of, it is safe to say, were perpetrated by the Indians, and Sir John Johnson and Colonel Butler can no more be blamed for the excesses of the Indians at Cherry Valley than Montcalm can be blamed for their excesses at Fort William Henry.

It was unfortunate that the military opinion of that day regarded the use of savages as necessary, and no one deplored this use more than the men like Haldimand and Carleton.

But Washington and the Continental Congress were as ready to receive the aid of the Indians as were the British.

The difficulty of the Americans was that most of the Indians were on the other side.

There are well-authenticated cases of atrocities committed by Alexander MacDonald.

In 1781, he ordered his men to shoot down a prisoner taken near Johnstown, and when the men bungled their task, MacDonald cut the prisoner down with his broadsword.

When Colonel Butler returned from Cherry Valley, Sir Frederick Haldimand refused to see him, and wrote to him that such indiscriminate vengeance taken even upon the treacherous and cruel enemy they are engaged against Is useless and disreputable to themselves, as it is contrary to the disposition and maxims of their king whose cause they are fighting.

But rumor exaggerated whatever atrocities there were.

I guess I want to sort of bring into the conversation, why is that important to you or to any of you that shop there?

I grew up in Haldimand County, so I'm always around the agriculture, and all I see is mass production of wheat, soy, corn, and it's just like, yeah, trying to support the local farmers that are feeding us the essentials, which actually allows to grow and prosper, the shit that they're growing doesn't, it's nothing.

It doesn't provide anyone any food.

So that's super important, supporting them.

when the rough minutes were discovered years later they were found to bear evidence in erasures and the use of different inks of having been tampered with for seventy-five years the loyalists continued to agitate for justice as early as seventeen ninety the island legislature passed an act empowering the governor to give grants to those who had not yet received them from the proprietors but this measure did not entirely redress the grievances and after a lapse of fifty years a petition of the descendants of the loyalists led to further action in the matter in eighteen forty a bill was passed by the house of assembly granting relief to the loyalists but was thrown out by the legislative council as late as eighteen sixty the question was still troubling the island politics in that year a land commission was appointed which reported that there were loyalists who still had claims on the local government and recommended that free grants should be made to such as could prove that their fathers had been attracted to the island under promises which had never been fulfilled such is the unlovely story of how the loyalists were persecuted in the island of st john under the british flag CHAPTER IX THE LOYALISTS IN QUÉBEC It was a tribute to the stability of British rule in the newly won province of Quebec that at the very beginning of the Revolutionary War, loyal refugees began to flock across the border.

As early as June 2, 1774, Colonel Christie, stationed at St. John's on the Richelieu, wrote to Sir Frederick Haldimand at Quebec notifying him of the arrival of immigrants.

and it is interesting to note that at that early date he already complained of their unreasonable expectations in the years seventeen seventy five and seventeen seventy six large bodies of persecuted loyalists from the mohawk valley came north with sir john johnson and colonel butler and in these years was formed in canada the first of the loyalist regiments it was not however until the defeat of burgoyne at saratoga in seventeen seventy eight that the full tide of immigration set in immediately thereafter haldimand wrote to lord george germain under date of october fourteenth seventeen seventy eight reporting the arrival of loyalists in great distress seeking refuge from the revolted provinces haldimand lost no time in making provisions for their reception he established a settlement for them at machiche near three rivers which he placed under the superintendence of a compatriot and a protege of his named conrad the captains of militia in the neighborhood were ordered to help build barracks for the refugees provisions were secured from the merchants at three rivers and everything was done to make the unfortunates comfortable by the autumn of seventeen seventy eight there were in canada at machiche and other places more than one thousand refugees men women and children exclusive of those who had enlisted in the regiments including the troops probably no less than three thousand had found their way to canada with the conclusion of peace came a great rush to the north the resources of government were strained to the utmost to provide for the necessities of the thousands who flocked over the border line.

At Chambly, St. John's, Montreal, Sorel, Machiche, Quebec, officers of government were stationed to dole out supplies.

Each township was subdivided into lots of two hundred acres each, and a town site was selected in each case which was subdivided into town lots.

The task of transporting the settlers from their camping places at Sorel, Machiche, and St. John's to their new homes up the St. Lawrence was one of some magnitude.

General Haldimand was not able himself to oversee the work, but he appointed Sir John Johnson as superintendent, and the work of settlement went on under Johnson's care.

on a given day the loyalists were ordered to strike camp and proceed in a body to the new settlements any who remained behind without sufficient excuse had their rations stopped bateaux took the settlers up the st lawrence and the various detachments were disembarked at their respective destinations It had been decided that the settlers should be placed on the land as far as possible according to the corps in which they had served during the war, and that care should be taken to have the Protestant and Roman Catholic members of a corps settled separately.

Yeah.

And so if you're in Haldimand County, and you get the chance to seed on the f- 10th of September, and that's, you know, three weeks too early, but you see a five-inch rain on the forecast, well, you get that five-inch rain, it'll be November when you seed.

Yeah.

And so, like, you have to look at your soil type.

[upbeat music] Well, this is a very exciting day on a personal level for myself, because this is the inaugural show of The Guy Up the Road podcast.

I am very excited to say that my first guest here is our MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk, Bobby Ann Brady.

Bobby, welcome to The Guy Up the Road podcast.

Thanks, Dave.

Mm

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but they're doing something to the people of Haldimand-Norfolk that isn't right.

It would be disingenuous of me to jump ship, go somewhere else.