well convinced that they had not provision sufficient to carry them half
way to Quebec, and that their going forward would only have deprived
the other division of a part of theirs, which, as the event has since shown,
was not enough to keep them all from perishing ; we therefore unani
mously acquitted Colonel Enos with honor.

I further certify, that by a strict inquiry into the matter since, from per
sons who were in the divisions that went forward, I am convinced that had
Colonel Enos, with his division, proceeded, it would have been a means of
causing the whole detachment to have perished in the woods, for want of
sustenance.

I further add, that I have been well informed, by person acquainted
with Colonel Enos, that he has ever conducted as a good and faithful officer.

JOHN SULLIVAN.



TO THE IMPARTIAL PUBLIC.

The case of Lieutenant-Colonel Enos having engaged the attention of
many officers of the army, as well as others, and as we are informed he is
much censured by many persons, for returning back from the expedition to
Canada, under the command of Colonel Arnold, by which Colonal Enos s
character greatly suffers, we think it our duty to certify, that some of us,
from our own personal knowledge of the military abilities of Colonel Enos,
and others of us from information, are fully convinced that he is a gentle
man fully acquainted with his duty as an officer, a man of fortitude and
prudence, and, in our opinion, well calculated to sustain, with honor, any
military character ; and, from the fullest inquiry, we are satisfied that
(whatsoever different representations may be made) in returning to camp,
with the division under his command, he is justifiable, and conducted as an
understanding, prudent, faithful officer, and deserves applause rather than



Campaign against Quebec , 1775. 63

who awaked, in the morning, the blanket was suddenly
thrown from my head, but what was my surprise to find
that we had lain under a cover of at least four inches of
snow. We scarcely had risen and had our kettle on the
fire, when our drummer (we had no bugles), John
Shaeffer, came slipshod to our fire, complaining that all
his cakes had been stolen from him. A more wretched
figure was scarcely ever beheld. He was purblind. This
circumstance, though he was my townsman, and ac
quainted with me from my earliest infancy, was yet
unknown to me until this last march, ascending the



censure; and we can safely recommend him as a person worthy to be em
ployed in any military department.



WILLIAM HEATH, Brig.-Gen. J OEL CLARK, Lieut.-Col.

JAMES REED, Colonel. EBENEZER SPROUT, Major.

J. BREWER, Colonel. EBENEZER CLAP, Lieut.-Col.

SAMUEL H. PARSONS, Colonel. SAMUEL PRENTICE, Major.

JOSEPH REED, Colonel. CALVIN SMITH, Major.

JONATHAN NIXON, Colonel. JOSIAH HAYDEN, Major.

CHARLES WEBB, Colonel. JOHN BAILY, Colonel.

DANIEL HITCHCOCK, Colonel. J OHN TYLER, Lieut.-Col.

JOHN STARK, Colonel. THOMAS NIXON, Lieut.-Col.

LEVI WELLS, Major. LOAMMI BALDWIN, Colonel.

SAMUEL WYLLYS, Colonel. JAMES WESSON, Lieut.-Col.

WILLIAM SHEPARD, Lieut.-Col. ISAAC SHERMAN, Major.
ANDREW COLBURN, Major.

Now, let Dr. Smith, of Philadelphia, display the malignity of his heart
in another funeral oration, in attempting to stab my reputation, and render
me infamous in the view of the world. However, I will venture to assert,
that if ill-nature, and a fondness to raise his reputation on the ruin of his
fellow-men, are as discernible in his other political writings as in this oration,
so far as it respects my character, he is one of the most dangerous writers,
and, perhaps, the most consummate villain, that walks on the face of God s
earth. Ignorance of my real character, and of the grounds and reasons of
my conduct in returning from the expedition to Canada, was no warrant
for such indecent freedom as he has used in his malicious, though feeble
attempt to ruin my reputation. He ought to have waited till a true and
impartial history of the facts had enabled him to talk on the subject with
propriety, and not have uttered things at random ; and, for the sake of
furnishing matter for declamation, have undertook, with such violence, to
blacken the character of an innocent man. ROGER ENOS.

New London, May 31, 1776.



64 Campaign against Quebec , 1775.

Dead river, commenced. My station in the line of
march, which was in the single file (or Indian, as it was
then called), was next to the captain ; the drummer
followed. Here it was his defect of sight was most
effectually shown. Smith was lithsome and quick afoot,
as we all were, except poor Shaeffer. In the course of
this toilsome march, without a path, many deep ravines
presented, over these lay many logs, fallen perhaps many
years before. The captain took the log, preferring it to
a descent of twenty or thirty feet into the gulf below,
which at times wasquite abrupt. Following me, Shaeffer
would frequently, drum and all, tumble headlong into the
abyss. His misfortunes in this way, for he was a laugh
ing stock, excited contempt in the soldiers, but in me
compassion. 1 Often, he required my aid. On this



1 I cannot exactly recollect the time, but the records of government will
show, that this miserable man was indicted of a burglary and convicted.
His respectable brother, Mr. Jacob ShaefYer of Lancaster ^Penn.), applied
to me to certify in his favor [it was in 1780 or 1781] to the president
and council, who had the power of pardon. The representation was, in
substance similar to the present. This part of our transactions rests in my
memoryj but the impression is so strong, that I cannot forget it. It gave
me great pleasure to imagine, that probably I might again contribute to
the saving the life of a man, which I had actually saved once before. At
that time, by our law, the punishment of burglary was death, and my com
patriot Shaeffer, was under that sentence. My soul was grieved.

In a drunken bout at Philadelphia, he had blindly stumbled into a house,
which he took to be his lodgings. Here detected in one of the chambers,
he was charged as a felon. Gracious God ! upon the superfices of thy
earth, there was never a more unoffending soul. He could scarcely see a
yard before him.

It has amused and pleased me often to hear that he extols me. He is
now industrious.

The fate of James Warner, among others, was really lamentable.
He was young, handsome in appearance, not more than twenty-five
years of age j he was athletic and seemed to surpass in bodily strength.
Yet withal he was a dolt. His wife was beautiful, though coarse in man
ners. The husband on the other hand, was a poor devil, constantly out
of view, or in the background of the pictures.

We heard nothing of them after entering the marsh, and until a month
had elapsed at Quebec. In December, the wife or widow of poor James
Warner, came to our quarters on the Low-grounds, bearing her husband s



Campaign against Quebec , 1775. ^5

latter occasion, our kettle, boiling a bleary, which was
no other than flour and water, and that without salt, my
solicitations prevailing, the mess gave him a tin cup full
of it. He received from me my third cake. This man,
blind, starving and almost naked, bore his drum (which
was unharmed by all its jostlings) safely to Quebec, when
many other hale men died in the wilderness.

November ist. This morning, breakfasting on our
bleary, we took up the line of march through a flat
and boggy ground. About ten o clock A.M., we arrived
by a narrow neck of land at a marsh which was appalling.
It was three-fourths of a mile over, and covered by a



rifle, his powder-horn and pouch. She appeared fresh and rosy as ever.
This arose from the religious and gratuitous spirit of the Canadians.

The story Mrs. Jemima Warner told, was extremely affecting, and may
be worth remembering, as it is something like a sample of the whole of
our distresses and intolerable disasters.

The husband was a great eater. His stores of provisions after the par
tition, at the head of the Chaudiere, were in a little time consumed. The
consummate wife ran back from the marsh, and found her beloved hus
band sitting at the foot of a tree, where he said he was determined to die.

The tender-hearted woman attended her ill-fated husband several days,
urging his march forward; he again sat down. Finding all her solicita
tions could not induce him to rise, she left him, having placed all the
bread in her possession between his legs with a canteen of water. She
bore his arms and ammdnition to Quebec, where she recounted the story.
The nephews of Natanis, afterwards at Quebec, confirmed the relation of
this good woman. For when going up, and returning down the river with
our inestimable friend M Cleland, she urged them, suffused in tears, to take
her husband on board. They were necessarily deaf to her entreaties. Thus
perished this unfortunate man at a period of his age when the bodily powers
are generally in their full perfection. He and many others, who died in
the wilderness, lost their lives by an inconsiderate gluttony. They ate as
much at a meal as ought to have been in our circumstances the provision
of four days, and a march of one hundred miles. Young men without
knowledge or previous experience are very difficult to govern by sage advice,
when the rage of hunger assails.

To conclude this lengthy note, allow me to introduce to you another
instance of human misery, which came under my eye, in this dolorous and
dreadful march. As was before observed in the body of the work " At the
head of the Chaudiere, it was given out by the officers, that order would
not be required from the soldiery in the march, etc." Yet the companies,
being in the most part either fellow-townsmen, or from the same county,
adhered together, bound by that affectionate attachment which is engen-



66 Campaign against Quebec, 1775.

coat of ice, half an inch thick. Here Simpson concluded
to halt a short time for the stragglers or maimed of Hen-
dricks s and Smith s companies to come up. There
were two women attached to those companies, who
arrived before we commenced the march. One was
the wife of Sergeant Grier, a large, virtuous and re
spectable woman. The other was the wife of a private
of our company, a man who lagged upon every occasion,
These women being arrived, it was presumed that all
our party were up. We were on the point of entering
the marsh, when some one cried out " Warner is not
here." Another said he had u sat down sick under a



dered by the locality of birth, or the habitudes of long and severe services,
in a communion and endurance of hardships and desperate adventures. It
appears to me to be a principle of the human mind, " that the more hard
ships we endure in company of each other, the greater becomes our esteem
and affection for our fellow-sufferers." For myself, this is said from expe
rimented woe and extreme calamity.

We had no path, the river was our guide. One day, either the second
or third of this march, a mountain jutting in a most precipitate form into
the river compelled us to pass the margin of the stream upon a long log,
which had been brought thither by some former freshet. The bark and
limbs of the tree had been worn away by the rubbings of the ice, and the
trunk lay lengthwise along the narrow passage, smooth and slippery, and
gorged the pass. This difficulty had collected here a heterogeneous mass of
the troops, who claimed the right of passage according to the order of
coming to it. The log was to be footed, or the water, of the depth of
three or four feet, must be waded. There was no alternative. An eastern
man, bare-footed, bare-headed, and thinly clad, lean and wretched from
abstinence, with his musket in hand, passed the log immediately before me.
His foot slipped, and he fell several feet into the water. We passed on re
gardless of his fate. Even his immediate friends and comrades, many of
whom were on the log at the same moment, did not deign to lend him an
assisting hand. Death stared us in the face. I gave him a sincere sigh at
parting, for to lose my place in the file, might have been fatal. This piti
able being died in the wilderness. The hard fate of many others might be
recapitulated, but the dreadful tale of incidents, if truly told, would merely
serve to lacerate the heart of pity, and harrow up the feelings of the soul of
benevolence. Tears many years since, have often wetted my cheeks,
when recollecting the disasters of that unfortunate campaign, the memora
ble exit of my dearest friends, and of many worthy fellow-citizens, whose
worth at this time, is embalmed solely in the breasts of their surviving as
sociates. Seven died sheerly from famine $ and many others by disorders
arising from hard service in the wilderness. Henry.



Campaign against Quebec , 1775. 6 7

tree, a few miles back." His wife begging us to wait a
short time, with tears of affection in her eyes, ran back
to her husband. We tarried an hour. They came not.
Entering the pond (Simpson foremost), and breaking
the ice here and there with the buts of our guns and feet,
as occasion required, we were soon waist deep in the
mud and water. As is generally the case with youths,
it came to my mind, that a better path might be found
than that of the more elderly guide. Attempting this.,
in a trice the water cooling my armpits, made me gladly
return into the file. Now Mrs. Grier had got before
me. My mind was humbled, yet astonished, at the
exertions of this good woman Her clothes more than
waist high, she waded before me to the firm ground.
No one, so long as she was known to us, dared intimate
a disrespectful idea of her. Her husband, who was an
excellent soldier, was on duty in Hendncks s boat, which
had proceeded tothe discharge of the lake with Lieutenant
M Cleland. Arriving at firm ground, and waiting again
for our companions, we then set off, and in a march of
several miles, over a scrubby and flat plain, arrived at a
river flowing from the east into the Chaud : ere lake.
This we passed in a bateau, which the prudence of
Colonel Arnold had stationed here, for our accommoda
tion ; otherwise we must have swam the stream, which
was wide and deep. In a short time we came to another
river flowing from the same quarter, still deeper and
wider than the former. Here we found a bateau, under
the superintendency of Capt. Dearborn, in which we
passed the river. We skirted the river to its mouth,
then passed along the margin of the lake to the outlet of
Chaudiere, where we encamped with a heterogeneous
mass of the army. It was soon perceived that the
French term Cbaudiere, was most aptly applied to the
river below us. Indeed every part of it, which came
under our view, until we arrived at the first house in
Canada, might well be termed a caldron or boiler, which
is the import of its French name. It is remarkable of



68 Campaign against Quebec ^ 1775.

this river, and which, to me, distinguishes it from all
others I had seen, that for sixty or seventy miles it is a
continued rapid, without any apparent gap or passage,
even for a canoe. Every boat we put into the river was
stove in one part or ether of it. Capt. Morgan lost all
his boats, and the life of a much valued soldier. With
difficulty he saved his own life and the treasure committed
to his care. Arnold, accompanied by Steele, and John
M. Taylor, and a few others, in a boat, were in the
advance of the army. He may have descended in a
boat, it is most likely he did. 1

November 2d, in the morning we set off from the
Chaudiere lake, and hungered, as to my own particular,
almost to death. What with the supplies to Shaeffer,
and my own appetite, food of any kind, with me, had
become a nonentity. My own sufferings, in the two
succeeding marches, from particular causes, were more
than ordinarily severe. My moccasins had, many days
since, been worn to shreds and cast aside ; my shoes,
though they had been well sewed and hitherto stuck to
gether, now began to give way, and that in the very
worst part (the upright seam in the heel). For one to
save his life, must keep his station in the rank. The
moment that was lost, as nature and reason dictate, the
following soldier assumed his place. Thus, once thrown
out of the file, the unfortunate wretch must await the
passage of many men, until a chasm, towards the rear,
happened to open for his admission. This explanation
will answer some questions which you might naturally
put. Why did you not sew it ? Why did you not tie
the shoe to your foot ? If there had been awl, and thread,
and strings at command, which there was not, for the
causes above stated, one dared not have done either, as
the probable consequences would ensue u Death by
hunger in a dreary wilderness." For man when thrown



1 June a6th, 1809. John M. Taylor tells me, that they descended by
land. Henry.



Campaign against Quebec, 1775. 69

out of society is the most helpless of God s creatures.
Hence you may form a conception of the intolerable
labor of the march. Every step taken the heel of the
foot slipped out of the shoe : to recover the position of
the foot in the shoe, and at the same time to stride, was
hard labor, and exhausted my strength to an unbearable
degree. You must remember that this march was not
performed on the level surface of the parade, but over
precipitous hills, deep gullies, and even without the path
of the vagrant savage to guide us. Thus we proceeded
till towards mid-day, the pale and meagre looks of my
companions, tottering on their feeble limbs, correspond
ing with my own. My friend Simpson, who saw my
enfeebled condition and the cause, prevailed with the
men to rest themselves a few minutes. Bark, the only
succedaneum for twine, or leather, in this miserable
country, was immediately procured arid the shoe bound
tightly to the foot. Then marching hastily, in the
course of an hour or more, we came within view of a
tremendous cataract in the river, from twelve to twenty
feet high. The horror this sight gave us, fearing for
the safety of our friends in the boats, was aggravated,
when turning the point of a steep crag, we met those
very friends ; having lost all but their lives, sitting around
a fire on the shore. Oh God ! what were our sensa
tions ! Poor M Cleland, first lieutenant of Hendricks s,
and for whose accommodation the boat was most par
ticularly carried across the mountain, was lying at the
fire ; he beckoned to us. His voice was not audible ;
placing my ear close to his lips, the word he uttered
scarcely articulate, was, " Farewell." Simpson, who
loved him, gave him half of the pittance of food which
he still possessed ; all I could was a tear. The short,
but melancholy story of this gentleman, so far as it has
come to my knowledge, may be detailed in a few words.
He had resided on the Juniata at the time he was com
missioned. My knowledge of him commenced in the
camp near Boston. He was endowed with all those



jo Campaign against Quebec > 1775.

qualities which win the affections of men. Open, brave,
sincere and a lover of truth. On the Dead river, the
variable weather brought on a cold which affected his
lungs. The tenderness of his friends conducted him
safely, though much reduced, to the foot of the mountain,
at the head of the Dead river. Hence he was borne in
a litter across the mountain by men. If you had seen
the young, yet venerable Capt. Hendricks bearing his
share of this loved and patriotic burden across the plain
to our camp, it would have raised esteem, if not affection,
towards him. From our camp, M Cleland was trans
ported, in the boat, to the place where we found him.
The crew, conducting the boat, though worthy men and
well acquainted with such kind of navigation, knew
nothing of this river. They descended, unaware of the
pitch before them, until they had got nearly into the
suck of the falls. Here, luckily, a rock presented, on
which it was so contrived as to cause the boat to lodge.
Now the crew, with great labor and danger, bore their
unfortunate lieutenant to the shore, where we found him.
We passed on, fearful for our own lives. Coming to a
long sandy beach of the Chaudiere, for we sometimes
had such, some men of our company were observed to
dart from the file, and with their nails, tear out of the
sand, roots which they esteemed eatable, and ate them
raw, even without washing. Languid and woe- begone
as your father was, it could not but create a smile to
observe the whole line watching, with Argus eyes, the
motions of a few men who knew the indications in the
sand of those roots. The knowing one sprung, half a
dozen followed, he who grabbed it ate the root instantly.
Though hunger urged, it was far from me to contend in
that way with powerful men, such as those were. Strokes
often occurred.

During this day s march (about I o or 1 1 A.M.) my shoe
having given away again, we came to a fire, where were
some of Captain Thayer or Topham s men. Simpson
was in front ; trudging after, slipshod and tired, I sat



Campaign against: Quebec, 1775. 71

down on the end of a long log, against which the fire
was built, absolutely fainting with hunger and fatigue,
my gun standing between my knees. Seating myself,
that very act gave a cast to the kettle which was placed
partly against the log, in such a way as to spill two-
thirds of its contents. At the moment a large man
sprung to his gun, and pointed it towards me, he threa
tened to shoot. It created no fear ; his life was with
much more certainty in my power. Death would have
been a welcome visitor. Simpson soon made us friends.
Coming to their fire, they gave me a cup of their broth.
A table spoonful was all that was tasted. It had a
greenish hue, and was said to be that of a bear. This
was instantly known to be untrue, from the taste and
smell. It was that of a dog. He was a large black
Newfoundland dog, belonging to Thayer s 1 and very fat.
We left these merry fellows, for they were actually such,
maugre all their wants, and marching quickly, towards
evening encamped. We had a good fire, but no food.
To me the world had lost its charms. Gladly would
death have been received as an auspicious herald from
the divinity. My privations in every way were such as
to produce a willingness to die. Without food, without
clothing to keep me warm, without money, and in a
deep and devious wilderness, the idea occurred, and
the means were in my hands, of ending existence. The
God of all goodness inspired other thoughts. One princi
pal cause of change (under the fostering hand of Provi
dence) in my sentiments, was the jovial hilarity of my
friend Simpson. At night, warming our bodies at an
immense fire, our compatriots joined promiscuously
around to animate the company, he would sing Plato ;
his sonorous voice gave spirit to my heart, and the
morality of the song, consolation to my mind. In truth
the music, though not so correct as that of Handel,



1 Said to have belonged to Dearborn, afterwards Maj. Gen. Henry
Dearborn, of the United States army. M.



72 Campaign against Quebec, 1775.

added strength and vigor to our nerves. This evening
it was, that some of our companions, whose stomachs
had not received food for the last forty-eight hours,
adopted the notion that leather, though it had been
manufactured, might be made palatable food, and would
gratify the appetite. Observing their discourse, to me
the experiment became a matter of curiosity. They
washed their moccasins of moose-skin, in the first place,
in the river, scraping away the dirt and sand, with great
care. These were brought to the kettle and boiled a
considerable time, under the vague but consolatory
hope that a mucilage would take place. The boiling
over, the poor fellows chewed the leather, but it was
leather still ; not to be macerated. My teeth, though
young and good, succeeded no better. Disconsolate and
weary, we passed the night.

November 3d. We arose early, hunger impelling,
and marched rapidly. After noon, on a point on the
bank of the river, some one pretended he descried the
first house, ten miles off. Not long after another dis
cerned a boat coming towards us, and turning a point of
land, presently all perceived cattle driving up the shore.
These circumstances gave occasion to a feeble huzza
of joy, from those who saw these cheerful and enlivening
sights. We were now treading a wide and stony beach
of the river. Smith, our captain, who at this moment
happened to be in company, elated with the prospect of
a supply of food, in the joy of his heart, perhaps thought
lessly, said to me, " take this Henry." It was gladly
received. Opening the paper, which had been neatly