A narrative of the adventures and sufferings of Captain Daniel D. Heustis and his companions, in Canada and Van Dieman's Land, during a long captivity; with travels in California, and voyages at sea

Front matter

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Book__„-.HJ2i-

Chapter 1

Early Life — Residence in Roxbiiry, Massachusetts — Removal to Watertown, New York — Travels in Canada — Sympathy for the Canadian People — The Outbreak in Lower Canada — Battles of St Dennis, St. Charles, and St. Eustache, 15

CHAPTER H.

Attempted Revolution in Upper Canada — Escape of the Leaders to the United States — Occupation of Navy Island — Destruction of the Caroline — Enlistment of the Author, and Journey to Buffalo — Evacuation of Navy Island — The Watertown Arsenal Guns — Hickory Island — General Van Rensselaer, '24

CHAPTER in.

Arrest of the Author — Journey to Auburn in Charge of the U. S. Marshal — Amusing Incident — Curiosity to see a Famous Man — Examination before Judge Conklin — Discharge — Examination of Benjamin Collins — The Witnesses — Trials in Canada — Execution of Lount and Mattliews 34

CHAPTER IV.

Organization of Patriot Lodges — Burning of the Sir Robert Peel — Scheme to liberate the Niagara Prisoners — Preparations for the Attack on Prescott — Embarkation at Sackett's Harbor — Deseiiv CONTENTS.

Page.

tion — Unsuccessful Attempt to land at Prescott — Going ashore at Windmill Point — Our Flag unfurled — A Naval Exploit — Supper at a Farm-House — Colonel Von Shoultz appointed Commander-in Chief, 41

CHAPTER V.

Approach of the British — Unprotected Females shot — Battle of Prescott — Hard Fighting — Deaths of Phillips, Brown, Butterfield, and Johnson — Capture of Daniel George and others — Wheelock and Finney wounded — A Stormy Night — Sufferings of the Wounded — The Dead on the Field of Battle — A Visit from Ogdensburgh — Attempt to remove the Wounded — An Escape — Armistice for burying the Dead — The Enemy reinforced — Their Compliments returned — Interference of U. S Officers — The Surrender, 47

CHAPTER VI.

The March to Prescott — Tortures of the Wounded — The Passage to Kingston — Confinement in Fort Henry — The Names, Age, and Residence of the Heroes of Prescott — List of the Killed and Wounded — Loss of the Enemy — Money sent to the Prisoners by their Friends — Filthy Bread — Robbery — Style of Living — A Christmas Present — Trial and Execution of Von Shoultz — Incidents in his Romantic Career, 59

CHAPTER Vn.

The Reign of Terror — Execution of several Prisoners — Comments of the Democratic Review on these hideous Murders — The Author's Trial — Anecdote of " Old Hicks"— -Character of Sheriff McDonald — His Profanity — Uncommon Vigilance to prevent our Escape — Visits from our Friends — Private Money smuggled into the Prison — Six Breakfasts eaten by one Man — Pardon of a Portion of the Prisoners — Mrs. Skinner's Effort in my Behalf — A Visit from the Governor — Celebration of the Fourth of July in Prison, 72

CHAPTER VIIL

Removal from Fort Henry to Quebec — Embarkation on board the Ship Buffalo — An Account of the Battle of Windsor — Description of the Buffalo — Division of the Prisoners into Messes — Our Manner of Living — A Storm — Scheme to capture the Ship —

CONTENTS. V

Page.

Death of Asa Priest — A Funeral at Sea — Arrival at Rio Janeiro — Yankee Seamanship — A Flogging — Doubling the Cape — Van Dieman's Land, 82

CHAPTER IX.

The Disembarkation — A Speech from the Governor — Change of Clotlies — Work on the Road — The Rations — Death and Burial of McLeod — Fruitless Endeavors to find his Grave — Lines by L. W. Miller— Deaths of McNulty, Van Camp, Curtis, Nottage, and Williams — An Attempt to escape, by Reynolds, Paddock, Cooley, and Murray — Their Capture and Sentence to Port Arthur — Interesting Incident — Sufferings of the Prisoners, 99

CHAPTER X.

Lovely Banks — Robbery in Bagdad Jail — Horrid Sufferings — A Scheme to obtain Liberty — Miller and Stewart sent to Port Arthur — Our Removal to Green Ponds — Atchison, the Negro Driver — Dishonest Superintendents — The Bridgewater Station — Dispersion of our Party — The Author and twenty-one others sent to Brown's River — Cruel Floggings — Criminality of eating a Sheep's Head — Captain Jones, 108

CHAPTER XL

Our partial Emancipation — Journey into the Interior — The Good Woman's Inn — Lodgings by the Wayside — Mona Vale — Mr. Kermode's Farm — Agreement to cultivate it on Shares — Death and Burial of Alson Owen, at Rothbury — Celebration of the Fourth of July — A successful Experiment in cradling Wheat,. . 117

CHAPTER XIL

The Author visited by his Brother — Hunting Bush-Rangers — Dresser and Wright pardoned — The new Governor — His Opinion of the Legality of our Imprisonment — A Petition for our Pardon — Another unsuccessful Attempt to Abscond — Trial before a Magistrate — Cheating the Laborer of his Wages — The Pardon — Captain Skinner, of the Phoenix, 123

CHAPTER XIII.

Adieu to Van Dieman's Land — The Whale-Ship Steiglitz — The Boston Atlas Extra — Death of a Sailor — A Ship in Distress —

Vi CONTENTS.

Page.

Killing Whales — Dinner with a King at the Society Islands — Arrival at Honolulu — Kind Reception — Departure for California — Arrival at Monterey, 131

CHAPTER XIV.

Preparations to cross the Rocky Mountains — Commenceraent of the Journey — Incidents on the Route — Arrival at Neuva Helvetia — Captain Sutter — Further Travels — Sickness of tlie Guide — Abandonment of the Expedition — Extensive Travels in California — Description of the Country — Its Agricultural and Commercial Advantages — Voyage to Valparaiso — Return Home in the Ship Edward Everett 142

CHAPTER XV.

The English Criminal Code — Establishment of Penal Colonies — Settlement of Van Dieman's Land — Description of the Country — Extermination of the Natives — Cruelty of Sir George Arthur — Ruthless Policy of England — Chartists in Exile — Interesting Letter from the Honorable Edward Everett, 154

CHAPTER XVI.

Present Condition of Canada — Sir Francis Bond Head's " Emigrant " — Disaffection of the Loyalists — Appointment of Patriots to Office — Inconsistency manifested by the Government in these Appointments — Concluding Reflections, 164

Introduction

THE CANADIAN MOVEMENT.

The true history of this movement is yet to be written ; and, when written, it will be a triumphant vindication of the patriotic spirits engaged in it. Justice may move slowly, but it is certam.

The policy of the British government toward its colonies is well known. It is, and ever has been, to get as much out of them as possible, at the smallest cost.

This policy has been steadily pursued ever since the infamous and cowardly treaty of Paris, in 1763. The people have been peeled, crushed, deprived of nearly every right, fined, taxed, imprisoned, until, from men, they have been reduced almost to the level of things.

We lack space — neither is it in unison -^vith the design of this work — to enter into minute detail relative to the past history of the Canadas. A rough outline must suffice.

When New France was made over to England, the bulk of the population was of Trench descent, and so continues, although the immigration of Anglo-Saxons has reduced the proportional majority. It would seem that toward this important class true policy would have dictated conciliation; but the Court of St. .Tames thought otherwise. Their rights of property have been violated, and, until very recently, they have been excluded from every place of honor or emolument. This proscription, together with a succeb^ion of unremitting exactions and petty oppressions, has kept them in a state of semi-revolt. Like gunpowder, the spark was but wanting to cause an explosion.

But tyranny stopped not with this insulted class. The iron hand has been laid upon the whole people. The British government threw a « tub

INTRODUCTION.

to the whale " in 1791, by dividing the Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, and giving a constitution for the government of each : a constitution which Gov. Simcoe, the first executive of Upper Canada, in his opening speech, pronounced "the very image and transcript of that of England." Practically, the "image" proved to be a mere charcoal caricature. Notoriously bad as is the structure of tlie British constitution, this was found, in its working, to be infinitely worse. Those who made the constitution neutralized the whole, by providing that the Legislative Council should be appointed hy the Executive, and that this irresponsible body should have a veto on the bills passed by the People's House. This power was exercised to the utmost The most beneficial acts of the popular branch were almost invariably rejected ; especially those which were calculated to elevate the masses, give character to the country, throw open to enterprise her uncultivated soil and afiluent streams, and extend her trade. Bills for general common school education ; for encouraging emigrants of capital to settie ; for securing the purity of trial by jury, by an impartial selection of jurymen ; for abolishing the feudal law of primogeniture ; for regulating the mode of elections, so as to protect tlie rights of citizens ; for reforming the overgrown salaries of officials ; for exempting Quakers and other religionists from bearing arms, and from militia fines in time of peace ; and scores of others, of like character, were scornfully thrown under the table, after they had been matured by the lower house in accordance with " the will of the people,"

Let us look a moment at the cost of thus misgoverning the Canadas, at the time of the outbreak. Lord Gosford had $44,000 a year, for oppressing the 600,000 people of Lower Canada, and Sir Francis Head had $22,000, for taking the same kind care of the 300,000 people of Upper Canada. The salary of the Attorney-General of Upper Canada was $4,800 ; that of the Solicitor-General $3,000 ; that of the Chief Justice about $8,000, and each of the five Judges $4,400. The Governor's Secretary had a handsome salary, with an addition of six dollars for every marriage license. The Postmaster-General of the Provinces, who, with the above-named functionaries, was appointed by tlie home government, received an enormous annual income from salary and perquisites. The above must suffice as specimens of the innumerable host of foreign leeches that were sucking the life-blood of the colonies. " Their name is legion."

During the three or four years preceding the insurrection, the Assembly of the Lower Province refused to raise the money for official salaries, because many of the recipients were pluralists, holding offices inconsistent with each other, and because they had all uniformly opposed every effi^rt of the people for redress. The British Parliament, however, " cut the gordian knot," by passing a resolution, taking seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars out of the provincial treasury, to pay these mercenary hirelings ; and this in defiance of the strenuous opposition of O'Connell, Brougham, and even the Duke of Wellington. Of this outrage the Westminster Review spoke thus : —

" The House of Assembly, unable to procure the redress of certain grievances, has for some tjme refused to vote the supplies. The whig administration has thereupon proposed to the House of Commons certain resolutions, to the effect that the grievances of the Canadians shall not be redressed, and that the Governor of the Province shall be authorized to appropriate the public moneys witliout the consent of the House of Assembly. This proceeding is in direct violation of the constitution of Lower Canada, as settled by the act of the 31st George III. c. 31. This act of the whigs is founded upon the expectation that the people are too. feeble to resist."

The over-laden back will either break or endeavor to cast off its load. It was so with the Canadians. They had submitted to official insolence, to foreign domination, to excessive taxation, to unequal and oppressive duties, to restriction of trade, until submission, instead of being a virtue, became cowardice. The living thousands were at last aroused. The death-sleep had passed off. But they did not, even then, resolve upon adopting the dernier resort. They remonstrated, as they had often done before, earnestly, eloquently, indignantly. They laid a complete and unanswerable statement of facts at the foot of the throne. It was spurned. They tried another course. At the suggestion of Papineau, they formed a commercial league against the mother country. The French Canadians bound themselves by oath to use exclusively home products, or those of the United States. This brought matters to a crisis. They had at last touched the most sensitive nerve of the " nation of shopkeepers " — the pocket.

The Canadians have been censured for rushing precipitately into rebellion, so totally unprepared as the result proved them to be. They, had an avalanche of numbers, but they lacked organization, discipline, arms, ammunition, and money. How, it is very properly asked, coUid they have expected to resist successfully the drilled soldiery 1* of Great Britain ? To this we reply — they were forced into the measure by the government, against their will and judgment. They had by no means exhausted the peaceful resources at their command. This matter is briefly but fully explained by M. Papineau, in an historical work, quoted by M. Regnault, in his " Criminal History of the British Government." M Papineau says : —

" I challenge the English government to deny, when I affirm, that none of us were prepared for, expected, wished, or even anticipated an armed resistance. But the English government had resolved to rob the province of its revenue and its representative system ; it had resolved to devote some of us to death, and others to exile ; it was for this that martial law was proclaimed, and the citizens were tried by court-martial for acts which it was decided, some weeks before, formed no ground for accusation ; founding the necessity of creating military tribunals on the impossibility of obtaining sentence of death from the civil tribunals. Yes, once more the executive power, having in view the interests of the metropolis, formed inhuman combinations against innocent men, which had been admitted to be illegal ; the provocation came from it, but the insurrection was not lawful. We had resolved not yet to rebel. This has been proved to the government by our papers, which have been seized , a government which calumniates, in order to become persecutors."

This is the testimony of a man of imunpeachable character, and the acknowledged leader of the masses of Lower Canada. He was emphatically the O'CoNNELL of his country.

The facts corroborate his evidence. While the people were confining their action strictly within constitutional limits, Papineau was accused of treason, but escaped to France ; and leading Patriots, in and out of Montreal, were arrested and imprisoned. Collision with the populace was provoked by the British soldiery, at the instigation of the government, and THE INSURRECTION COMMENCED.

We need not relate the particulars of that disastrous struggle. They are too fresh to be forgotten. But if ever a people were justified in appealmg to the last argument, the Canadians were so, before God and man. Wrongs were perpetrated upon them at which the Czar of Russia would blush ; and he who would condemn tJiem, must, with thrice the emphasis, condemn the American revolution; a revolution sanctioned by the deliberate verdict of all Europe.

Many are in the habit of looking at results instead of causes^ and judging accordingly of the merit of a movement. If successful, the rebel becomes a hero ; if unsuccessful, a traitor. Such men have yet much to learn, before their wisdom will be perfect.

INTRODUCTION. II

The Patriots, though engaged in a conflict almost void of hope, fought bravely, gloriously. The whole country was roused. Beacon fires blazed on every hill-top, and the green valleys teemed with strong hearts ready for martyrdom. They baptized many a battle-field with their blood, and caused thousands of tlie British soldiery to bite the dust. Weak, undisciplined, unorganized, without provisions, arms, or ammunition, they yet proved themselves no contemptible foe. Had they possessed but the ordinary means for such a contest, British dominion would long since have ceased in North America. No towering monument perpetuates the glory of their achievements, and none is needed. The heart of every friend of liberty enshrines their memory.

The end is not yet. The fire, once kindled, never expires. It may smoulder beneath the surface, unperceived by human eye, but it will break out again with added power. With the people of Canada, it is now a settled opinion that they shall sooner or later be independent They are beginning to feel their strengtli. The British government is itself conscious that its hold is fast relaxing. Its legislation indicates an intention to 'procrastinate, rather than totally to avoid, the result. The union of the two Provinces in one, which was insolently termed a measure of pacification, is a failure. It robs the French of Lower Canada of their proportionate influence, and thus keeps them in a state of irritation. The honest truth is, the home government cannot legislate successfully for the Provinces; and if they do not themselves sever the chain the people will do it for them.

" Revolutions never go backward." It is a trite but emphatic truth, demonstrated a thousand times in the history of the past, and will be a thousand times in the history of the future. A revolution once started on its course, its termination is as certain as the pathway of the sun. Like that glorious luminarj^ it may be veiled in cloud, but it will still travel on behind the cloud. It moves on when no mortal eye can see it ; it moves on when the calm of deathlike quiet seems to pervade the whole land. Wake but the dormant principle of liberty in the bosom, and all the gilded opiates of tyranny cannot hush it to sleep again. How many times did the American revolution appear to be at an end, with its purpose unaccomplished ! Traitors and mutineers in our own camp ; a broken currency ; a starved and unpaid militia ; a hundred adverse influences, conspired to crush the enterprise. But the people had lerongs to redress ; wrongs that burned at the heart's core ; wrongs that made them oblivious of suffering ; and they conquered. The same spirit, and the same oppression, that pushed our revolutionary sirea onward in the thorny path to victory, will influence the people of the Provinces. British despotism may deprive every patriot of his weapon ; may crowd the cells of their prisons, and the holds of their transport vessels ; but the principle will exist and operate, silently perhaps, but effectually, until, like the little leaven, it "has leavened the whole lump."

The connection of citizens of the United States with tlie Canadian movement has been the theme of no stinted denunciation. Upon this point we have space but for few words. The act of Congress, of April 20, 1818, provides, "that if any person shall, within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States, begin or set on foot, and provide or prepare the means, for any military expedition or enterprise, to be carried on from thence against the territories or dominions of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district or people, with whom the United States are at peace, any person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall be lined not exceeding three thousand dollars, and imprisoned not more than three years."

If an infraction of this law was committed — a point, by the way, which it is not our province now to discuss — England, at least, has no right to complain. That government is world-famous for its total disregard of international obligations; and its treaties with other powers, especially minor ones, have been repeatedly broken.

Let us cite an instance ; one of the many acts of provocation and insult which aroused the spirit of liberty in the breasts of the patriotic citizens of our country residing on the frontier. The American steamer Caroline was quietly moored at tlie wharf of a port in the State of New York. She had no connection with the Patriots, a considerable body of whom then occupied Navy Island. She had made a few trips to the island, carrying passengers, each one paying his fare. This was a lawful and legitimate business. At the dead of night, while this vessel was thus lying at an American wharf, with several peaceful American citizens sleeping on board, a band of armed British tories, acting under the orders of their commanding officer, crossed over from the Canada side, boarded the steamer, murdered several innocent persons, applied the incendiary's torch, and sent the burning vessel over the fills of Niagara, Avith living men, as is generally believed, on board ! What did the British government ? Did they make prompt and ample restitution, so far as in their power, for this outrageous infraction of international law?

Did they punish the incendiaries and murderers ? No ! They formally sustained the act, and rewarded with high honors the perpetrators of it ! From that hour to this the wrong remains unredressed. The American people demanded energetic action from our government ; and the demand was met by expending quires of paper and quarts of ink ! The whole affair evaporated in official correspondence; and, when the Ashburton treaty was on the tapis, it was thrown into the scale as a make-weight.

The tyrants of England, and the tyrants of all other countries, may be assured that, whenever and wherever an effort is made to " cast the cords " of oppression off, the great lieart of the American nation will respond. It is no infraction of enactments to feel or to speak our sympathy, or to transmit means for the contest.*

Who> does not recollect how the popular pulse throbbed when the news reached us that Greece — famed in song and story — with the upraised cross, was struggling against the crescent; that Poland had bearded tlie Bear of Russia ; that young Texas had stricken itself from the roll of Mexican dependencies ! The chivalry of the nation was roused, and thousands of our gallant spirits rushed to the battle-field. All the means necessary to continue these contests were freely furnished* The press was pregnant with good will ; thronged assemblies were convened ; loud huzzas answered to eloquent appeals ; and the whole people were moved as by the upheaving of the volcano. Yet were we " at peace " with Turkey, with Russia, and with Mexico.

Those of our citizens who passed over the line, and took sides with the Canadians on their own soil, had the legal right to do so. And the act was heroic. If he who bravely throws himself into the melee with hope and triumph before him deserves renown, much more does he who fights under the certainty of ultimate defeat. If he who joins his own

*0n the question of national neutrality. Chancellor Kent, in vol. 1, p. 142, of his Commentaries, says : " It was contended, on the part of the French nation, iu 1796, that neutral governments were bound to restrain their subjects from selling or exporting articles contraband of war to the belligerent powers. But it was successfully shown, on the part of the United States, that neutrals may lawfully sell at home to a belligerent purchaser, or carry, themselves, to a belligerent power, contraband articles, subject to the right of seizure in transitu. The right has since been explicitly declared by the judicial authorities of the country. The right of the neutral to transport, and of the hostile power to seize, are conflicting rights, and neither power can charge the other with a criminal act."

In the case of the Santissima Trinidad, 7th Wheaton, p. 253, we find the following decision of the Supreme Court of the United States: "No neutral state is bound to prohibit the exportation of contraband articles, and the United States have not prohibited it."

14 INTIIODUCTION.

country iu a contest for freedom merits the wreath of glory, much more does he render himself immortal, who buckles himself to the strife for those who are not of his kindred or people. The Americans who were eng-aged in this movement letl home, friends, fortune, wives, and children behind them — for what? For toil, privation, poverty, imprisonment, exile, and death. They made a sublime effort in behalf of humanity Living or dead, all honor to their names and memory !

NARRATIVE OE ADVENTURES.

CHAPTER I.

Early Life — Residence in Roxhury, Massachusetts — Removal to Watertown, New York — Travels in Canada — Sympathy for the Canadian People — The Outbreak in Lower Canada — Battles of St. Dennis, St. Charles, and St. Eustache.

My native place is Coventry, Vermont, where I was " ushered into this breathing world" in the year 1806. The particular day and hour of this somewhat important event to me, I shall leave veiled in obscurity, not having the vanity to suppose that it can be of any consequence to the thousands who I confidently hope will honor this unpretending story with a perusal. My father's name was Simon Heustis. He was a farmer, in moderate circumstances as to property, and the father of ten children. When I was at the age of ten years, he removed to Westmoreland, N. H., a quiet, agricultural town, near Keene, which, during my imprisonment, was rendered famous as the retreat of Governor Dorr, where he found a safe refuge, and received the warmest sympathy and kindest attentions of the inhabitants. Here my father and mother educated their numerous family as well as their limited means would allow. They were both members of the Presbyterian Church, and inculcated the principles of religion in their daily walk and conversation. For th6 blessings of liberty and republican government I was early taught to cherish a lively gratitude. Tyranny and oppression, of every kind, I was led to abhor and detest.

Of the events of my boyish days, and the thousand little incidents, adventures, frolics, and amusements, in which I was an eager participant, and which cast such glorious and invigorating rays of sunlight on the horizon of youth, it is not my purpose to speak. They are written on the tablet of memory, and the rough storms I have since encountered have only served to render the inscription still more legible and permanent.

The story which I have to relate, will necessarily be a dark picture of suffering and misery. There will be much in it to call forth the sympathetic tear, and there will also be some ludicrous passages, that may excite a smile. My experience and observation during an imprisonment of six years, nearly five of which were passed in a distant penal colony among a congregated mass of criminals of every grade, have furnished me with ample materials for a thrilling book ; and, if I shall succeed in working these materials into proper shape, and in dressing my thoughts in suitable style, I have no fears of disappointing those who may undertake to read my narrative.

In 1825 ray father was removed to a brighter and better world. In the spring of 1826, being then 20 years old, I came to Boston in quest of employment. That season I worked for Mr. Joshua Lewis, a farmer, in Roxbury, a few miles out of Boston. In the fall I returned to Westmoreland, in ill health, and remained there during the winter.

The next spring I again found employment in Roxbury, on the farm of Mr. Joseph D. Williams, till July. After that I went into the employ of Dea. Elisha Wheeler, who kept an extensive grain, meal, and West India goods store, on the Neck, very near the Roxbury line. I remained with Deacon Wheeler nearly eight years, and it affords me pleasure to speak of his many virtues and noble traits of character. As a business man he has ever been distinguished for honesty and fairness in his dealings. I invariably found him kind, pleasant, and gentlemanly, and shall always remember with gratitude the friendly manner in which he treated me and others in his service.

In March, 1834, 1 wentto Watertown, Jefferson county, N. Y., where an uncle of mine, James Wood, was residing. Watertown is the shire town of Jefferson county, and a place of some importance. It contains several manufactories, and is the centre bf considerable trade.

My uncle gave me employment one season in the boating business between Sackett's Harbor and New York city.

After that I went into the service of Messrs. Clark and Burr,

CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTlS. 17

morocco-dressers, at Watertown, who were doing an extensive business. I remained with them two years and a half. During that time I had occasion to travel much in Canada, between Toronto and Montreal, purchasing pelts and selling morocco. In these travels I saw much of the condition of the Canadian people, and frequently listened to their bitter complaints against the government under which they lived. They were harassed in a thousand ways, robbed of their dearest rights, plundered of their substance, and all their remonstrances no more heeded than the idle wind. They were taxed, most exorbitantly, to support a host of proud, overbearing, insolent, and virtually irresponsible government-officers, in whose appointment they had no voice, and over whose conduct they could exercise no control or supervision. It would require volumes to detail the grievances under which the people of Oanada became restless, and of which, as it appeared to me, they very justly uttered their emphatic complaints.*