John Jay Papers
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To John Jay from Robert R. Livingston, 27 November 1775

From Robert R. Livingston

[Fort George 27th Novr 1775]1

Dear John

I am now on the borders of lake George where we have been detained this day & part of yesterday by a head wind & extream severe wheather. It is almost impossible to conceive the difference we found in the climate in half a miles riding After we got over the mountains, within the reach of the winds that blew from the lake it was like leaping from Octr. to Decr.—we hope to leave this tomorrow & have prepared tinder boxes & axes for an encapment on the shore, as we can hardly expect as they tell us to get over in one day & hope to experience the pleasure of laying on hemlock beds. They laugh at us here for having brought but one blanket with us, but we hope to make it up in fire—This morning & part of yesterday I employed in going over the ground where the french received the first check from Sir Wm. Johnston, & this afternoon I went to see the remains of fort William Henry, & the french lines part of which are still vissable. No fort could have been more unfortunately scituated as it is commanded by almost all the ground about it, yet it appears that the defence must have been pretty gallant: since the approaches were begun at a distance yet they held out till they got within twenty yards of the fort, every gun, but one of which were dismounted—You remember how the capitulation was violated & the horrid Slaughter of those brave fellows by the Indians under the command of Lecorne.2 I could hardly stir a step with immagining that I walked over the grave of some unfortunate victim to the ambition of princes—We have little hopes of getting farther than Ticonderoga, as the lake is already frozen to Crown point, & the cold of last night & this day has I dare say extended it not a little—3

We met upon the road great numbers of the Connecticut & Vermont troops most of whom as we are informed have gone home. It gives me great pleasure to find that Montgomerry4 has contrived to gain the affection as well of the New England troops as our own. They speak of him in the highest terms—You can not conceive at the distance you are, the difficulties they have. He & his troops have had to strugle with difficulties which I am amazed they should ever get over—By the last accounts we have from Montreal, we hear that Montgomerry had raised ^ordered a^ battery ^to be raised^ at the mouth of the Sorrel & got a Gondola from the lake into the river St. Lawrance by which means he has stoped nine vessels loaded with Stores from going down, & I am in great hope they will be taken—5 Carleton is said to have escaped by land to Quebeck, where we hear he has about 700 men chiefly of the Royal Emegrants, (in which our Stephen Watts is enlisted) & they are employed below Quebeck in distressing the inhabitants who are favourable to us—6 Arnold we hear is at point Levi waiting for assistance from Montgomerry who writes me that he will go down immediately if ^he^ can get his men to follow him in which we hear he is like to succeed—7 He proposes to secure the channel below Quebeck & advises that some able genl. be sent to take the command, and recommends Lee8 as he expects a pretty severe attack in the spring—I wish he would stay himself as I know [no] person of more prudence & conduct in our service, but I believe he finds that the provision made for a second in command, will not support one at the head of an army. He says nothing of this to me but express a warm desire to return to his farm & mill I hope you have seen Harry. I have great satisfaction in the commendation he receive from all who have served with him, Both his Coll: & lieutenant Coll. have resigned, so that I hope he will receive the rank to which he was before entitled, & has now earned—If he is still with you I pray you to take him by the hand, you will find amidst his roughness, many good qualities.9

There is one subject on which I wished to speak to you had I had the pleasure of seeing you—They talk of sending the new levies to Boston, I think we should by no means consent to it, for many reasons that I dare not commit to paper but which will suggest themselves to you—If you are not tired of politicks I would just mention to you that under the notion of soldier baggage there are two compleat suits of cloathing at Montreal for each Soldier, which have never yet be unpacked. Now I have great doubt whether by the capitulation they can be entitled to these? if they are, whether they may not be purchased of the soldiers for our Northern army at a cheap rate, indeed we may afford to pay well for them as the transportation will amount to nearly their value—If the cong^ress^ have many other should take any order with respect to this matter, I should be glad to if they would send off an express to stop them here—10 Hitherto I have only asked your attention to those matters which your love of your country make it your pleasure to attend to. I could wish to detain you by the less important concerns of private friendship, which I never feel so strongly as when absence & solitude acquaint me with the movements of my own heart—but Pain11 already considers me as impolite, let me hear from you, & direct to the care of Walter Livingston at Albany—12 God bless ^you^ & remember me ^to^ any body you think fit—Farewell—Yours Most Sincerely

Robt R Livingston Junr

P:S: I just hear doubtful whether Carllton has escaped his vessels have made too fruitless Attempts—Montgomerry has marched to join Arnold, most of our troops enlist, all those that Woster had with him stay amount to about 300.

ALS, NNC (EJ: 6850). Addressed: “To/John Jay Esqr./at Congress Philadelphia/To care Walter Livingston Esqr./at Albany—”. Endorsed.

1Livingston, Robert Treat Paine of Massachusetts, and John Langdon of New Hampshire were at Fort George en route to Ticonderoga as members of a committee named by Congress to confer with Philip Schuyler. Fort George, also known as Fort William Henry, was at the southern end of Lake George. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 3: 317, 339–42.

2The ruins of the original Fort William Henry were about one mile from Fort George. William Johnson (1715–74) was knighted for his victory over the French at Lake George on 8 Sept. 1755. Fort William Henry, constructed by Johnson after this battle, was attacked and destroyed by General Montcalm in August 1757. France’s Indian allies killed or captured several hundred of the garrison’s troops and civilians released on parole under the terms of the capitulation, but many contemporary accounts wildly exaggerated the extent of the “massacre.” Luc de la Corne, also known as Chaptes de la Corne and La Corne Saint-Luc (c. 1711–84), the French-Canadian leader of the Indian troops blamed for not preventing this outrage, was still active in 1775. He partook in abortive negotiations with General Montgomery for the surrender of Montreal, was held captive by the Americans for a time, and after his release participated as a leader of Britain’s Indian allies in the Saratoga campaign. Ian K. Steele, Betrayals: Fort William Henry and the “Massacre” (New York, 1990), 109–85; Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

3The committee was supposed to proceed to Canada if possible. However, they did not reach Ticonderoga until 29 Nov.; Livingston returned to Albany on 6 Dec. Dangerfield, Robert R. Livingston description begins George Dangerfield, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746–1813 (New York, 1960) description ends , 65–66.

4Brig. Gen. Richard Montgomery (1738–75), Livingston’s brother-in-law, was second in command of the Canadian expedition. Since Philip Schuyler was kept in the rear by illness during most of the campaign, the actual field command was left to Montgomery.

5Montreal was captured 13 Nov. 1775. The Sorel (or Richelieu) River links Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River.

6Sir Guy Carleton, Governor of Canada, escaped from Montreal by boat as American forces approached. His small fleet was captured en route to Quebec, but Carleton eluded the Americans and made his way to the city. At Quebec, Carleton found the 1st Battalion of Royal Highland Emigrants under the command of Colonel Allan Maclean. Recruitment for the regiment had begun earlier in 1775, and the troops included Scottish veterans living in Canada as well as less experienced provincial Loyalists. Stephen Watts (b. 1754) was the son of John Watts, a New York merchant.

7Colonel Benedict Arnold of Connecticut commanded an expedition that marched from Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 13 Sept. By 9 Nov., Arnold and his men had reached Point Levis, opposite Quebec, and on the nights of 13 and 14 Nov., he took his troops across the St. Lawrence to the Plains of Abraham. On 19 Nov., Arnold retreated to a point twenty miles upriver to wait for Montgomery’s forces, which arrived on 2 Dec.

8Major General Charles Lee, then stationed at Boston with Washington, did not participate in the Canadian expedition.

9Captain Henry Beekman Livingston participated in the first phase of the Canadian expedition as aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, Richard Montgomery. In mid-November, Captain Livingston left Canada with Montgomery’s dispatches. On 12 Dec. 1775, Congress resolved to present him with a sword in recognition of his services and to “embrace the first opportunity of promoting him in the army.” JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 3: 424–25.

10By the second of the articles of capitulation under which the commander at St. Johns surrendered to Montgomery, the garrison at that fort was to enjoy “all the Honours of war” and be “suffered to proceed with their Baggage and Effects to the most Convenient port in America,” from which they would sail for Britain. Livingston questioned whether the extra clothing ought to be considered part of that “Baggage.” In this regard, he was at odds with Montgomery, who had braved a “near mutiny” to ensure that the clothing at Montreal was sent forward with the St. Johns prisoners. Montgomery declared to Schuyler: “I would not have sullied my own reputation, nor disgraced the Continental arms, by such a breach of capitulation, for the universe; there was no driving it into their noddles [the heads of the American soldiers who demanded that the clothing be kept in Montreal] that the clothing was really the property of the soldier, that he had paid for it, and that every Regiment, in this country especially, saved a year’s clothing, to have decent clothes to wear on particular occasions.” “Articles of Capitulation . . . at St. John’s,” 2 Nov. 1775, DNA: PCC, item 161, 2: 449–51; Montgomery to Schuyler, 13 Nov. 1775, FAA, 4th ser. description begins Peter Force, ed., American Archives: Fourth Series, Containing a Documentary History of the English Colonies in North America, from the King’s Message to Parliament, of March 7, 1774, to the Declaration of Independence by the United States (6 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1837–46) description ends , 3: 1602–3.

11Robert Treat Paine (1731–1814), delegate to the Continental Congress from Massachusetts.

12Walter Livingston (1740–97), the son of Robert Livingston, the lord of Livingston Manor, was Robert R. Livingston’s second cousin. Walter Livingston was appointed “commisary of stores and provisions” for New York by the Continental Congress on 17 July 1775. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 2: 186.

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