constrained oath, as theirs would be, could not be bind
ing on the conscience : and by all means to join our
army as soon as practicable. They enlisted under the
notion that the oath was non-obligatory, and a hope of
a speedy return to their sweet-hearts and wives. Allow
me here to recount, by anticipation, the residue of the
adventures of " honest Ned." It is due to him, for he
saved my life, and that of Simpson, on the Dead river.
Towards the end of January, Cavenaugh and Conner
happened to compose a part of the same guard at palace
gate, where the walls are from thirty to forty feet high,
independently of the declivity of the hill. Cavenaugh
was stationed as a sentry in conjunction with one of the
British party. Conner had procured a bottle of rum ;
coming to the station, he drank himself, and presented
the bottle to the British sentry. While the latter was
in the act of drinking, Cavenaugh gave him a push with
the butt of his musket, which stunned and brought him
to the earth. Taking his arms, they sprung over the
wall into a bed of snow, perhaps twenty-five feet deep.
This averment concerning the depth of the snow, may
appear problematical, as we know nothing like it in our
climate. Form no definitive opinion until you have
heard the reasons why it does happen. As you may re
collect several instances in this memoir, where the
asperity of a Quebec winter is intimated, and a descrip
tion of its effects attempted such as frequent snow
storms and fierce winds. In the month of January,
particularly, when the snow has increased to a depth of
seven feet over the face of the country, notwithstanding
the shining of the sun, the cold is so great, that those
winds drive the snow daily against the high ramparts of
the city, where it forms a compact mass the last
stratum being light and dry, as the finest sand, which



138 Campaign against gfuebec,, 1775.

may be whirled by the wind. Cavenaugh and Conner
leaped mid-deep into such a soft bed. Their disadvan
tage consisted in sinking too deep ; the height of the
leap, plunging them deeper than ordinary walking would
do, made it difficult for them to extricate themselves.
The relief guard came in time to give them a volley, as
they were scampering away. Thanks to God, my worthy
Irishmen escaped unharmed, though as they passed
through St. Roque, they were complimented by several
discharges of cannister and grape shot. This was the
first notice we had of the escape of our daring friends.
We heard next morning, all the minutiae from those who
guarded us. Cavenaugh is still alive is laborious, and
has a large family of children, who are respectable in
their way. You cannot conceive the joyousness of my
heart, when hearing of him in my peregrinations a few
years since, in the mountainous parts of York county.
The pittance then spared him, it is hoped, will make you
never the poorer. The assembly of Pennsylvania have
granted him a pension for which that honorable body
have my most fervent blessings. Old age and decrepi
tude, by the extremity of our sufferings, is brought upon
us long before the ordinary allotments of nature. We
served our country faithfully, and at this late day it is
really pleasant to observe the spirit of the public, inclined
to compensate the veterans of 1775 and 1776. So much
for my preserver " honest Ned," which epithet he still
bears among his neighbors, by whom, bating a venial
vice, he is esteemed. Timothy Conner, on the con
trary, possessing the art of acquiring wealth, married,
had a competency, but lost it subsequently by his vices,
which bore a strong affinity to gross criminality.

By the middle of January, we were settled down into
a state something like household order : those who could
economize, fared tolerably well, though they could have
used more. Our daily provision consisted of a biscuit
made of a coarse meal, from something like our chopped
r ye ; very often chaff or straw, half an inch in length,



Campaign against Quebec , 1775. 139

was found in this species of bread. A biscuit of the
size of a cake of gingerbread, now sold with us for a
cent, was the daily allowance of this article ; half a pound
of pork, or three-quarters of a pound of beef, though
these were much salted, even so as to be uncomforta
ble they were of Irish preparation, perhaps for the
sea-service: a competent allowance of butter, originally
fine, yet now rancid ; candles, molasses, and even
vinegar : this last article, so long as it could be afforded
us, was a preservative from the disorders which un
wittingly we were imbibing daily. Knowing the diffi
culties under which the garrison lay foes at the gates,
and an uncertainty of succor ; the governor was thought
of by me, with similar allowances, that ought to be
made to our own generals, in circumstances of such
pinching necessity. From all information attainable on
our part, we were as well treated as those of the garrison,
who lived on the same kinds of food, except as to liquor,
which deprivation was more beneficial than injurious to
our men It is grateful to my heart, now to remember
and repeat, the benevolent sensations this mildness and
humanity created in my mind, towards the virtuous, the
amiable and venerable Carleton. He was a genuine
representative of the gentility of the Irish nation, which
is so deservedly famous for the production of real heroes,
patriotic statesmen, and a generosity and suavity of
manners. He was of great candor, uprightness and
honor, and full of the spirit of philanthropy, which marks
the real gentleman. He made us several visits, in all
of which he seemed merely to have a solicitude for our
welfare, without any sinister view, such as a seduction
from our principles, etc. That he granted us every
accommodation his trying situation authorized, there
can be no doubt. Shortly after the time now spoken of,
we were conducted to the Dauphin jail. Before we quit
the Reguliers, admit me to state to you something more,
relating to our manner of living there. My youthful
appetite required and demanded a greater quantity of



140 Campaign against Quebec > 1775.

food than we then enjoyed. We wanted spoons, not
only in our own mess, but throughout the whole corps.
There was no money among us to purchase such an
implement, and if there had been, and opportunity had
offered, it is likely the jealousy of government would
have deprived us of them, if formed of metal of any
kind.

One day being at the unloading a cord of wood, a
birch stick, the only piece of hard wood in the load, was
eagerly laid hold of, and borne to the mess-room ; from
this, a wooden spoon was soon formed for my own use.
Lobscouse made a part of our diurnal food. This term,
though vulgar, conveys to one, who, when hungry, has
tasted the dish, some agreeable ideas. Among soldiers
and sailors, it is esteemed equal to the olla podrida
of the Spaniards, and nearly so to the speck and oyer I
of the Germans ; it is certainly more nourishing than
what the latter call water soup, and even meal
soup. We put our vile biscuit into a tin vessel, with
a sufficient quantity of water, and permitted it to stew
on the stove, until there was a perfect mucilage, some
thin slices of bacon fat (the reserve of the last meal),
were then added ; or some of the skimmings of the
boilers, but most usually the rancid butter (which was
thus made palatable) : when these substances were well
incorporated with the biscuit; a few spoon-fulls of
molasses finished the dish. This was the ordinary
breakfast, and a good one, when we could spoon it into
our mouths. My spoon therefore, was an article in great
demand, and of prime necessity. The production of one
spoon, created a desire for more ; they were manu
factured in abundance, by the means of two knives
a great and a small, but always disposed of for biscuit.
Spoons were made as large as small ladles, some with a
deer at full stretch, a hound pursuing an Indian
sitting a beaver and twenty other devices were in-

1 Spek en eijeren, ham and eggs, or eggs and bacon. M.



Campaign against Quebec > 1775. 141

vented, and tolerably well carved. Some came to five
biscuits, some to ten, and one in particular at twenty,
which my friends thought worthy of the acceptance of
the governor, but care was taken not to present it.
Boyd and Cunningham carefully furnished the wood.
Thus we could exist pretty well on our slender diet.
But we had other resources, which were by no means
neglected. Henry Crone, a well bred young man,
descended from a worthy and respectable family of York
county, Pennsylvania, much my senior, but who was
known to me during his apprenticeship at Lancaster, had
dissipated a good fortune at the gaming-tables ; he was
a sergeant of Hendricks . Miserable as was our predica
ment, the demon of play had intruded itself among us,
though there was neither money nor clothing but that
upon our backs, and our daily provisions to sport with.
The play was for biscuit, and most usually at a game
called all-fours, in which Crone was a real adept.
He was a droll dog, and much inclined to play with and
beat the Yankees, as he termed them. ^ Many mornings,
being compelled by the inclemency of the season to
leave our uncomfortable beds, pacing the avenues in front
of our cells for exercise and warmth, drawing aside the
curtain of the gambling room door, which was no other
than a thread-bare blanket, Crone was seen and heard,
with bleared eyes and a vociferous voice, after a night s
sitting, contending for a biscuit, with as much spirit and
heat, as most probably he had done in former times for
fiftv or a hundred dollars. The passion of gaming, is
almost an inexplicable trait in the human character, the
poor, the rich, the savage and the civilized, are equally
its devotees. The greatest and the least are alike
subject to its fascinations. Crone, poor dog, was one
of the devoted.

Montgomery, in his care for Arnold s party, besides
an excellent blanket coat, had assigned to each man a
new red regimental coat of the seventh, or some other
regiment, stationed in the upper country. This clothing



142 Campaign against SHiebec^ 1775.

had been seized at Montreal. Crone, in the division, had
fared well. He had obtained a large superfine broad
cloth coat, such as is worn by the sergeant-major of the
British army, which u fitted him like a shirt." He was
so totally devoid of care, that he never once applied to
the tailors of the army, who were employed by the pub
lic, to fit the coat to his back, and to sew it regularly.
What was still more laughable, he had no pockets to
this coat, unless you may call the flannel such, which
interiorly lined the lappets, and bore the appearance of
large bags dangling about his heels. Crone was facetious
and clever ; he had an affection for me. Often about
daylight he would come to my blanket and waken me, and
shake the lappets of his coat. He would say tc Damme
Jack, here s something for you," and would force upon
me ten, fifteen, and several times, even thirty biscuits.
With all his vices he bore a great share of my esteem,
for the goodness of his heart. When ill-luck occurred,
there was a refunding on my part, but it seldom hap
pened. Our other resource was William M Coy, a
sergeant of Hendricks an excellent clerk, who came
into favor of the governor, by giving to Major Murray,
of the garrison, a genuine copy of his journal of the route
through the wilderness into Canada. He was a sedate
and sensible man. He was installed clerk of the
kitchen, and put me much in mind of Gil Bias clerk.
The cook, whom M Coy patronized was a very Boni
face in accomplishments and a Sancho Panza in rotundity.
He was of Thayer s or Dearborn s company. Believe
me that these two men were courted by our hungry
wights among the soldiery, with as much eagerness and
solicitude, and often sycophancy, as would have been
the case had they been the ministers of a great state.
What could you suppose to be the object of such ser
vility ? To explain the boiling utensils were two
very large coppers. A boiling of pork, produced a great
quantity of liquid fat, which the men called slush. The
skimmings constituted the importance of the cook, who



Campaign against Quebec > 1775. 143

made a profit from it by selling it to certain tradesmen
of the city. A half pint of this slush was a good succe-
daneum for better food, to a mess of six stout men.
It, with the molasses, formed an excellent lobscouse.
Oleaginous matter, next to bread, is, however, the
great support of the animal functions, and even su
perior to bread, to sustain life, and gratify the palate.
Here you see the real ground of the causes of distinctions
in society. The cook possessing this perquisite, com
manded his applicants for additional food, with an un
warrantable austerity. As to our mess, it was strong in
habits of intimacy with M Coy, who was one of us. The
cook was far below our notice. Friend M Coy gave
us every advantage our melancholy situation afforded
him. This minute information is given to you, to in
spire you with a disgust towards war of any kind. As
to my sons, if the liberties of our country ever be invaded,
it is humbly hoped, under the protecting hand of Provi
dence, that they will always be ready and active to rally
round the standard of Freedom, the principles of which
we derived from our forefathers, whose blood freely
flowed in its defence.

Coming to the Dauphin jai!, escorted by the military,
we found it well accommodated for our lodgment.
There were four rooms below, and as many above
stairs, all capacious and well supplied with berths or
bulks, in the common method of barracks. Our com
pany taking the right our precedency in the procession
gave us, assumed the possession of a room in the third
story, which was in truth the very best. Morgan s
took a room immediately below us ; Hendrick s one
adjoining ; but remember that at this time we were re
duced most lamentably by killed, wounded and missing.
Many were in the hospital. Out of sixty-five who
came on Abraham s plains in November, we had
scarcely more than thirty left with us in prison. The
fire of the enemy and disease had so thinned us. Mor
gan s gallant men fared worse. Like the eastern people



144 Campaign against Quebec > 1775.

before and at that period, they detested the introduction
of the small-pox into their country by inoculation. Now
they were its victims. Less than twenty-five of the
privates of that company regained their native homes.
They were originally as elegant a body of men as ever
came within my view. 1 To use the style of my friend
Simpson, "they were beautiful boys, who knew how to
handle and aim the rifle." Indeed many of them, adroit
young men, courageous and thorough going, became
the subjects of death by that virulent disease, both with
out and within the city. We of Pennsylvania had no
fears from that source. This disease had visited us in
youth, either naturally or by inoculation. This observ
ation which is a serious one, should convey to your
minds the immensity of the discovery of the inoculation
of the kine pock, by Doctor Jenner. The discovery of
the causes of lightning, its dreadful effects, the means of
avoiding its power by the celebrated Franklin, our
countryman, is (as it concerns the happiness of man,
speaking diffidently), perhaps inferior in importance to
that of Jenner. The Jennerian discovery tends to save
the lives of millions, the Franklinian of hundreds. But
all lovers of natural philosophy are compellable to ac
knowledge that the identity of the electric fluid, obtained
artificially, with that of the clouds, has given a wider
scope to human thought than the recency of the Jenner
ian discovery has as yet afforded. There can be little
doubt, that in a succession of years, some gigantic gen
iuses of the medical profession, will improve and extend
the benefits of the happy disclosure.

At the Dauphin jail our notions of escape were

1 In the spring of the year 1776, our army was reduced by decease of
men, or debilitation of body, so that they could not act effectively, and in
the eyes of the world, a disreputable retreat took place, which it was not
then quite prudent to explain. Now it may be safely asserted, that great
numbers of the soldiers inoculated themselves for the small-pox, by lacerat
ing under the finger nails, by means of pins or needles, either to obtain an
avoidance of duty, or to get over that horrible disorder in an easy and
speedy way. Henry.



Campaign against Quebec > 1775. 145

strengthened. The prison may be three huudred yards
from St. John s gate, the interval at that time was free
from buildings. From without the building appeared
formidable. The courtyard was very contracted for so
large a house, and was encompassed by a strong stone
wall at least twenty feet high. The windows and doors
were seemingly by their bars impenetrable. But what
cannot men of true spirit effect when made the subjects
of oppression ? Opposite to the jail, across the street
leading to St. John s gate, at a distance of forty yards
there stood a house which became the station of the
guard who superintended us. In the first of our im
prisonment we were attended by the regular troops, or
sailors, who were embodied by government as soldiers,
but now the guard (as our force without had made a firm
stand), was replaced by the militia, who were the most
inert and despicable of military men. The sentries were
stationed on the outside of the jail ; we had no witnesses
of our conduct within, except the captain of the provost,
who did not pry with a suspicious eye. He was a gen
erous and open-hearted enemy had no guile himself,
nor imputed it to others. The principal defence on this
side of the city, as it regarded our attempt at evasion, lay
at and near St. John s gate. The guard here was most
usually composed of thirty men of the regular troops or
sailors. They would have given us a hustle but of a
certainty we should have overpowered them by the force
of numbers as stout and as able bodied men as themselves
whose courage was not to be questioned, though there
was a great difference in the nature of our respective
arms. Having examined the jail carefully, its imbecility
to restrain us was apparent. It was an old French
building in the Bastile style. The walls of stone, and
more than three feet thick, were impenetrable by any
of our means. Upon examining the bars of the windows,
which were originally ill-constructed, many were found
so much corroded as to move up and down in the sockets.
These could be taken out. The mildness of Governor
13



146 Campaign against Quebec ^ 1775.

Carleton s reign seemed not to require a strict inspection
into places of this kind. About this time a selected
council was called, of which your father had the honor
to be one, and was chiefly composed of the sergeants.
The present Major Joseph Aston, of Lamb s artillerists,
then a sergeant-major had the presidency. Our dis
coveries were disclosed, the means of escape considered,
and a consultation of the men recommended. This was
done, and there was not a dissentient voice. At the
stair head there was a small room lighted by a small
window ; the door was locked. Peeping through the
keyhole large iron hoops were discovered ; the spring of
the lock kindly gave way to our efforts, the room was
ransacked ; and as neatly closed. The room furnished
us with a large number of strong iron-hoops, two and
three inches broad, and a considerable quantity of other
iron, of different shapes and sizes deposited there as
lumber. From the first of these articles we formed a
rough, but weighty species of sword with a wooden
handle, a blow from which, in the hands of one of our
stout men would have brought down one of the stoutest
of the enemy. The residue of the iron was applied to
formation of spear-heads. These were affixed to splits
of fir- plank, about ten feet in length, which had formed
in part, the bottoms of the lower berths. These weapons,
it is true, were of the coarsest make, yet in the hands of
men determined to sacrifice their lives for freedom, they
would have had a considerable sway. Our long knives,
which many of us secreted when captured, also became
spear-points. These weapons were concealed under the
lower range of berths, which were raised a foot from the
floor. The planks were neatly raised, the nails were
extracted, and the nail-head with a part of its shank,
placed in its former position. Over these lay our
blankets and bundles. It was a standing rule to have
two sentries constantly on the watch, one at each end of
the interior of the jail. Their duty consisted in giving
a signal of the approach of the officers of the garrison,



Campaign against Quebec , 1775. 147

who were in the habit of visiting us daily, as there were
shoemakers and tailors among us, who worked cheaper
than those of the city, merely for the purpose of bettering
their condition. There was policy in this watchfulness.
When the signal was given the inner doors were thrown
open, those appointed for the purpose laid upon the berth
which hid our arms, as if in a drowsy state. The officers
were accosted with assumed confidence, and much com
plaisance. The council met daily, sometimes in small
squads, and when anything of much consequence was
to be considered in larger ; but at all times secretly, or
at least not obviously as a council, from a fear of traitors,
or some indiscretion of the young men. Our arrange
ments, so far as my judgment could discern, were judicious.
Aston was to act as general, M Coy and some others
became colonels. Boyd and others of the most spirit
became majors, captains, lieutenants, etc. That which
cheered me much was that the council assigned me a
first lieutenancy under my friend Boyd, whose vigor and
courage .were unquestionable.

The plan of the escape was thus: Aston, who was
an excellent engineer, was to have the particular superin-
tendency of Lamb s company, which to a man was well
informed in their duty, active and spirited. These were
to be increased to a band of one hundred and fifty men,
whose duty it was to attack the guard at St. John s gate.
The attack of the guard opposite the jail was assigned to
the discretion of Boyd, Cunningham and myself; the
council generously giving us the authority of a first
selection of twenty two persons, from the whole body
of our men. The residue of our force was so disposed
of as to act as a body of reserve to Aston, under the
command of M Coy, and another smaller body was
reserved to support Boyd, particularly by way of setting
fire to the jail, the guard house, and the buildings in its
neighborhood, to amuse or employ the enemy, while we
were running to St. John s gate. It was expected we
could arrive there by the time Aston and his party



148 Campaign against Quebec > 1775.

would be victorious. Our particular duty was of the
desperate kind, something of the nature of the cc forlorn
hope." Nothing but the virtue and bravery of our
comrades could ensure the safety of our lives ; for if
they should arrive at St. John s- gate, and discomfit the
guard, and if then seeking safety by flight, they would
leave us to the mercy of an enraged enemy, who would
sacrifice us to their fury. But there has been too much
precipitation in the relation. Previously to the last
observations, besides being told of our force, our weapons,
and our military plans, you should have been informed
also, of the real site of the jail, of its internal structure,
from which the sally was to be made. The Dauphin
jail is built on a plain, pretty much declined towards the
street. It follows that the front of the lower story,
that is the cellars, was oil a level with the street. The
back ground was ten or twelve feet higher. In the
cellar, near the foot of the stairway, there was a plente
ous fountain of water, which supplied the house. The
conduits leading from the spring, by the severity of the
weather, were impeded by ice, so that the water, In great
quantity remained in the cellar, which with the additional
carelessness of our people, who cast the rinsing of their
buckets on the floor of the apartment, formed a bed of
ice a foot thick, and very firm and solid. This cellar
had a door newly made of strong pine plank, five feet
in width, which opened inwards, the sill was level with
the street. The door was hung upon H hinges of a
large size, fixed on the inside, exposed to our view and
operations. But what was still more absurd, the door
was hasped within and secured by a large pad lock.