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MEMOIR AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM GLANVILLE EVELYN. 
 
250 Copies privately printed. 
 

MEMOIR AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPTAIN W. GLANVILLE EVELYN, 
 
 OF THE 4th regiment, ("KING'S OWN,") 
 
 FROM 
 
 iaxtl^ %mmtu, 1 7 74— ^77^- 
 
 EDITED AND ANNOTATED BY 
 
 G. D. SCULL, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, THE 
 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE NEW ENGLAND 
 
 HISTORIC, GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON, AND 
 
 THE HARLEIAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
 
 IPrmi^ir fax ^rifaat^ Ciwwlatbn bg 
 
 JAMES PARKER AND CO., OXFORD. 
 1879. 
 
 Lo 
 
I\.SP5 Ibl, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 nPHE old family seat of Wotton House, once 
 the residence of the celebrated John Evelyn, 
 author of " Sylva," is now in the possession of his. 
 collateral kinsman, William John Evelyn, Esq.. 
 Here are still preserved the MSS. of the well- 
 known diary, several portraits of John Evelyn and 
 his wife, and their descendants, the Prayer- Book 
 used by Charles I. on the scaffold, and many other 
 most interesting relics of that period. During 
 a visit to Wotton, made by the Editor of this little 
 volume in 1877, he ascertained that some letters, 
 written by Mr. Evelyn's grand-uncle, Capt. William 
 Glanville Evelyn, were still in existence, and in 
 the possession of the family. These letters, sixteen 
 in number, were written from the seat of war in 
 North America, during the early years of the Re- 
 volution, to Captain Evelyn's relations in Ireland 
 and Great Britain. They were found to be some- 
 what dilapidated, and fast going to decay, and it 
 was suggested to Mr. Evelyn by the Editor, that 
 they should be copied and printed, with full notes, 
 
VI Preface. 
 
 and a slight memoir of the writer, drawn up from 
 the very scanty materials still remaining. Mr. 
 Evelyn, in the kindest and most obliging manner 
 (amidst the urgency of his own private affairs), 
 made careful copies himself of all the original 
 letters, and placed them in the hands of the Editor, 
 for private publication. He has taken much pains 
 to elucidate the text with notes, drawn from many 
 sources. Mr. Evelyn has also rendered the Editor 
 much valuable assistance. 
 
 Some particulars relating to the death of Capt. 
 Evelyn, were related to the present owner of Wot- 
 ton more than thirty years ago, by Mr. Daniel 
 Webb Webber, of Dublin, who knew Capt. Evelyn 
 personally, and was indeed a distant connexion of 
 his family. 
 
 About two years ago, an inquiry was started 
 to ascertain the place of burial of the writer of 
 these letters in New York. Nothing definite could 
 be ascertained beyond the fact, that "an English 
 officer was interred during the month of October, 
 1776, in the ground of the Lutheran church on 
 Broadway." For their zealous and able assistance 
 in this inquiry, the thanks of both Mr. Evelyn and 
 myself are particularly due to Mr. T. Baily Myers, 
 of New York, to Mr. William Kelby, assistant- 
 librarian to the New York Historical Society, 
 
Preface. 
 
 vu 
 
 Mr. Spofford, of the Congressional Library at 
 Washington, Mr. Benson J. Lossing, Mr. William 
 John Potts, of Camden, New Jersey, and to Mr. 
 Benjamin D. Hicks, of old Westbury, Long Island. 
 
 I am also indebted for much valuable information, 
 drawn through Mr. W. J. Potts, to the following 
 gentlemen : — Rev. Charles W. Baird, of Rye, New 
 York, Mr. Henry B. Dawson, of Morrisiania, Mr. 
 Isaac P. Greenwood, and Mr. Henry P. Johnston 
 (author of the "Campaign of 1776 around New York 
 and Brooklyn"), and to Mr. Edward F. Delancey, of 
 New York. To Miss Elizabeth Ellery Dana, of 
 Boston, my thanks are due for extracts from the 
 unpublished parts of the "Journal of a British 
 Officer in America." Mr. W. J. Potts has our 
 especial thanks for most valuable assistance, ren- 
 dered during the inquiry concerning the military 
 career of Captain Evelyn in America, and for much 
 important information furnished to me by him. 
 To Mr. Charles R. Hildeburn, of Philadelphia, 
 I also desire to express our obligations, for an in- 
 teresting extract from the MS. journal of his great- 
 grandfather. Lieutenant George Inman, who was 
 the comrade and friend of Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 
 
 Captain A. E. Lawson Lowe, of Nottingham, 
 has favoured me with some notes from his collection 
 of genealogical papers, and Mr. Joseph W. Drexel, 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 of New York, has, in the kindest manner, placed 
 at my disposal several photographs of rare en- 
 gravings in his collection. 
 
 Col. E. W. Vernon Harcourt, of Nuneham Park, 
 with most obliging courtesy, has also sent photo- 
 graphs of a rare print, and allowed me to copy the 
 letters written by Lieutenant- Colonel William Har- 
 court, to his father. Earl Harcourt, during the years 
 1776 and 1777, from the seat of war in North 
 America. 
 
 G. D. SCULL. 
 
 Rugby, August 13, 1879. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Memoir ...... 
 
 Extract from the Official Records of the 4th Regi- 
 ment ...... 
 
 Robert Evelin ...... 
 
 His descendants ..... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 13 
 
 IS 
 
 25 
 
 LETTERS OF CAPTAIN W. G. EVELYN. 
 
 I. To HIS Father . 
 II. To THE Hon. Mrs. Leveson Gower 
 
 III. To THE SAME 
 
 IV. To his Father . 
 V. To the Hon. Mrs. Leveson Gower 
 
 VI. To his Father . 
 
 VII. To THE SAME 
 
 English Account of the Battles of Lexington and 
 Concord .... 
 VIII. To THE Hon. Mrs. Leveson Gower 
 
 IX. To THE SAME 
 
 X. To HIS Father . 
 
 XI. To THE SAME 
 XII. To THE SAME 
 
 XIII. To THE Hon. Mrs. Leveson Gower 
 
 XIV. To HIS Father . 
 XV. To THE Hon. Mrs. Boscawen . 
 
 XVI. To HIS Mother . 
 
 Copy of the Will of Captain W. G. Evelyn 
 Memorandums 
 
 26 
 29 
 31 
 38 
 41 
 45 
 53 
 
 56 
 58 
 
 63 
 66 
 68 
 
 71 
 76 
 81 
 
 83 
 88 
 90 
 92 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Letter of Ensign Evelyn to his Father . 
 Appendix ..... 
 
 Col. Cleaveland .... 
 
 Brigadier-General Richard Prescott . 
 
 Capture of General Charles Lee by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Harcourt .... 
 
 Extracts from " Memoirs of General James Wil 
 kinson" ..... 
 
 Edward Thoroton Gould 
 
 Trial of Rev. John Home (Tooke) . 
 
 Hugh, Earl Percy .... 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Boscawen 
 
 List of Officers serving in the 4th Foot, in 1776 
 
 Genealogical table to illustrate Capt. Evelyn's letters 
 Index ...... 
 
 95 
 
 98 
 
 ib. 
 
 100 
 
 103 
 
 "3 
 119 
 124 
 126 
 131 
 133 
 135 
 136 
 
LIST OF AUTOTYPE PORTRAITS. 
 
 Capt. W. G. Evelyn 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 John Evelyn, Esq. . 
 
 Facing p. 12 
 
 The Hon. Mrs. Boscawen 
 
 . . „ 83 
 
 Brig.-Gen. R. Prescott . 
 
 „ 100 
 
 Rt. Hon. Wm. Harcourt 
 
 ,, 102 
 
 Gen. Charles Lee . 
 
 „ 104 
 
 Simon, Earl Harcourt . 
 
 „ 109 
 
 Hugh, Earl Percy 
 
 „ 126 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 nPHE writer of the following Letters, William 
 Glanville Evelyn, eldest son and heir of the 
 Rev. William Evelyn, (afterwards Dean of Emley, 
 and Vicar of Trim, Ireland), could claim to be of 
 good extraction both on his father's and mother's 
 side. Through his father, he was sixth in direct 
 descent from George Evelyn, Esq., who (dying in 
 1603) was the common ancestor of three branches 
 of the Evelyn family, settled at Long-Ditton, God- 
 stone, and Wotton, in the county of Surrey. The 
 Long-Ditton branch became extinct in the male 
 line in 1692. The father of William belonged to 
 the second, or Godstone branch of the family, and 
 John Evelyn % the distinguished author of " Sylva," 
 
 ' John Evelyn, the son of Richard Evelyn, of Wotton, was born 
 Oct. 31, 1620. He spent a number of years in France and other 
 parts of Europe. In 1647 he married the daughter (then only four- 
 teen) of Sir Richard Brown, the British resident at the Court of 
 France, and settled permanently (in 165 1-2) at Say's Court, near 
 Deptford, Kent, formerly the property of his wife's father. Here he 
 resided until May, 1694, when he removed to Wotton House. Say's 
 Court was occupied by Peter the Great, as Mr. Evelyn's tenant in 
 1698, for three months : the Czar frequenting the King's Dockyard 
 as a common workman, in order to learn the art of ship-building. 
 Evelyn succeeded to the Wotton Estate on the death of his elder 
 brother George, Oct. 4, 1699. 
 
2 Memoir of 
 
 to the third or youngest branch, settled at Wotton. 
 John Evelyn, in his Diary, several times mentions 
 his kinsman, Sir John Evelyn of Godstone, Knight, 
 who was a direct ancestor of William Glanville 
 Evelyn, and who was, like John Evelyn, a grand- 
 son of the above George Evelyn, the common an- 
 cestor. 
 
 It appears from the Diary that on Feb. ii, 1649, 
 John Evelyn dined with his kinsman at West- 
 minster. In one edition of the Diary, the name 
 is misprinted Sir Joseph Evelyn; but in the ori- 
 ginal MS. preserved at Wotton, it is clearly written 
 " Sir Jo. Evelyn." This was Sir John Evelyn of 
 
 (Disraeli makes one of his characters say in " Lothair," — "You 
 should read Evelyn's ' Sylva.' Evelyn was a man who was almost 
 perfection.") He wrote books and treatises on History, Art, both 
 Painting and Sculpture, Engraving, having himself engraved five 
 prints of his journey from Rome to Naples, and one of Wotton 
 House. He had been instructed by Prince Rupert in his new art 
 of Mezzotint. He also wrote on domestic and political economy, 
 physical geography, forest-trees, ancient and modern architecture, 
 horticulture, gardening, science, commerce, law and other subjects ; 
 in fact, they embraced well-nigh the whole round of human knowledge 
 of that day. He is perhaps best known by his " Sylva," a discourse 
 on forest-trees, and his Diary (almost as famous as that of his friend, 
 Samuel Pepys), which he kept from the year 1641 to 1705. In cha- 
 racter he was pure and blameless, amidst the profligate courtiers 
 of Charles II. He was among them, but not of them, and was an 
 object of affection and respect wherever he was known. He died in 
 London, Feb. 27, 1705-6, aged eighty-six, and was buried in the 
 family chapel at Wotton. By his direction the following maxim 
 was inscribed on his tombstone : — 
 
 " That all is vanity which is not honest, and that there is no solid 
 Wisdom but in real piety." 
 
William Glanville Evelyn. 3 
 
 Godstone, who at that time represented the borough 
 of Bletchingley, Surrey, in Pariiament, and should 
 not be confounded with his nephew, Sir John 
 Evelyn of Wilts, M.P. for Ludgershall, who had 
 been declared a traitor by Charles I. (See Cla- 
 rendon, Ludlow, and the other histories of the 
 period.) 
 
 There is another mention in the Diary of Sir 
 John Evelyn of Godstone, July 2, 1649; on which 
 day John Evelyn, being on a visit to his brother 
 at Wotton, went from Wotton to visit Sir John 
 Evelyn at Godstone. There he met also Sir John 
 Evelyn of Wilts, the so-called traitor; and after 
 leaving Godstone, returned to his residence at 
 Say's Court, Deptford. In the Diary is the follow- 
 ing entry, copied from the original MS. at Wotton, 
 recording the birth of his third son, John, at Say's 
 Court, Jan. 19, 1654-5 : — 
 
 "About -J- after ro in the morning was my wife delivered 
 of another son, being my third, but 2nd living. Bene- 
 dictus sit Deus in donis suis." 
 
 The following baptismal certificate, in John Eve- 
 lyn's own handwriting (preserved at Wotton, but 
 much injured by damp), shews that this son was 
 christened at Say's Court on the 26th of January, 
 and that Sir John Evelyn of Godstone was god- 
 father (susceptor) on the occasion. 
 
4 Memoir of 
 
 " John Evelyn, my 3rd son, was born at Say's Court, in 
 the Parish of Deptford, in the County of Kent, on the 
 xix of January 165I-, and was christened the xxvi. 
 Susceptors, Sir John Evelyn, of Godstone 
 in Surrey, 
 Lady Gerrard. 
 
 Officiating, Dr. Owen tham, in y" 
 
 chamber over the west Parlour. 
 
 Ita testor 
 J. Evelyn." 
 
 The Diary mentions that on Aug. 3, 1658, John 
 Evelyn visited his cousin Sir John at Godstone, 
 and that on Nov. 24, 1659, he again was the guest 
 of his kinsman on the celebration of Sir John's 
 forty-first wedding-day. The last mention of Sir 
 John in the Diary is dated Oct. 14, 1677, on which 
 day John Evelyn went to see "old Sir John Eve- 
 lyn's Dormitory" at Godstone Church, "paved with 
 marble where he and his lady lie, on a very stately 
 monument at length, he in armour of white marble." 
 This monument still exists. 
 
 Sir John was buried in the family vault at God- 
 stone, Jan. 18, 1664. Sir John Evelyn's second son, 
 George Evelyn, Esq., of Nuffield, near Godstone, 
 is also referred to in Evelyn's Memoirs. This 
 George Evelyn (grandfather of William, dean of 
 Emley, and great-grandfather of Captain Wilham 
 Glanville Evelyn), was not only a kinsman, but, like 
 his father, a friend of John Evelyn, author of 
 "Sylva," — (See Diary, March 30, 1694; Aug. 4, 
 1694; Feb. 20, 1695; June 19, 1699.) 
 
William Glanville Evelyn. 5 
 
 George Evelyn of Nutfield, heir to his brother, 
 Sir Johii Evelyn of Godstone, Baronet, (who died 
 without male issue, Aug., 1671) was a deputy-lieu- 
 tenant of Surrey, and was thrice elected Member of 
 Parliament for the borough of Bletchingley, which 
 his father. Sir John Evelyn of Godstone, had also 
 represented. 
 
 There is in Evelyn's Diary an interesting ac- 
 count of a visit of John Evelyn to his cousin, 
 Aug. 4, 1694 :— 
 
 " I went to visit my cousin, George Evelyn of Nutfield, 
 where I found 10 children, 5 sons and 5 daughters. All 
 painted in one piece very well by Mr. Lutterell, in crayon 
 on copper. The boys were at school." 
 
 This picture, by Henry Lutterell, is now at Wotton. 
 Of the five sons of George Evelyn here mentioned, 
 Richard, the fourth son, was grandfather of Captain 
 William Glanville Evelyn. 
 
 Little did John Evelyn foresee, when he paid this 
 visit to his kinsman, that his own branch of the 
 family would become extinct, and that a descendant 
 of his kinsman would succeed to the family estate 
 of Wotton. George Evelyn, of Nutfield, was born 
 Dec. 4, 1641 ; died June 19, 1699; and was. buried 
 in the family vault at Godstone, June 24, 1699. 
 The last allusion to him in Evelyn's Diary, is dated 
 June 19, 1699: "My cousin, George Evelyn of 
 Nutfield, died suddenly." He should be distin- 
 
6 Memoir of 
 
 guished from his kinsman, Captain George Evelyn 
 " the great traveller," mentioned in Evelyn's Diary 
 Feb. 26, 1649, and June 8, 1652, at which latter 
 date George Evelyn of Nutfield would have been 
 but in his eleventh year. 
 
 At Wotton there are portraits of Sir John Evelyn 
 of Godstone, of his son George of Nutfield, and 
 also of John Evelyn, grandfather of the present 
 head of the family, and brother of Captain Wil- 
 liam Glanville Evelyn, of whom, it is much to be 
 regretted, no full-sized portrait exists at Wotton. 
 
 The above extracts from Evelyn's Diary have 
 been here introduced to shew the intimacy which 
 existed between the author of " Sylva" and the an- 
 cestors of Captain William Glanville Evelyn. He 
 was born at Arklow, county Wicklow, Ireland, 
 early in 1742. His mother was the daughter of 
 Christopher Chamberlain, Esq., of Chamberlainstown, 
 CO. Meath ; the Chamberlains'' being a verv ancient 
 and honourable family, who once held considerable 
 possessions in the county of Meath. At the age of 
 eighteen, through the interest of his English con- 
 nections, he obtained an ensigncy in the 50th Regi- 
 ment of Foot ; and his first commission bears date 
 
 '' This family is alluded to by Edmund Spenser, the Elizabethan 
 poet, in his " View of the state of Ireland," where he mentions that in 
 the year 1316, "Edward le Bruce, in his invasion of Ireland, rooted 
 out the noble families of Audlies, Tuchets, Chamberlaines, Maunde- 
 villes, and the Savages out of Ardes." The family of Chamberlain is 
 now represented by Tankerville Chamberlain, Esq., Barrister-at-Iaw. 
 
William Glanville Evelyn. 7 
 
 Marcli 29, 1760. At that time the contest between 
 England and France concerning their American pos- 
 sessions, had led both Powers to seek allies on the 
 European Continent, and England found an ally in 
 Prussia, France in Austria; Prussia and Austria 
 being then engaged in the "seven-years' war""." In 
 this continental struggle ^ the young officer, serving 
 with his regiment, received what has been called 
 the "baptism of fire;" but England withdrawing 
 from the war, on the signing of the treaty of 
 Fontainebleau at Paris, peace was proclaimed in 
 London on March 22, 1763, and the 50th regi- 
 ment, with the others, was reduced to a peace es- 
 tablishment. The troops were recalled, and William 
 Evelyn, who held then the rank of lieutenant, re- 
 tired on half-pay. After passing some years at 
 home with his parents in the county of Antrim, in 
 1767, (July 16), he was re-appointed into the 4th 
 or King's Own regiment "=, and attained the rank of 
 
 ' " When, therefore, war between the two countries seemed in- 
 evitable, an augmentation was made to the army, and in December, 
 1755, eleven regiments of infantry were raised, which have been 
 since retained, and are numbered from the 50th to the 60th in- 
 clusive." — Moorsum's Historical Record of the ^ind Regiment. 1 860. 
 '' See letter of his, written at this date, placed after the Letters. 
 ' This celebrated corps was raised by Royal authority, on July 13, 
 1680, and was called the 2nd Tangier Regiment. In 1684 Charles II. 
 conferred upon it the title of "Her Royal Highness the Duchess 
 of York and Albany's Regiment, or the Queen's Regiment of Foot." 
 In 1703 it became a Marine corps, and was called "the Queen's 
 Regiment of Marines." In 1715 it was stationed at Windsor, when 
 George I. conferred upon it the title of the King's Own, which it most 
 
8 Memoir of 
 
 Captain, October i6, 1772. This regiment being 
 one of those engaged in the American War of In- 
 dependence, William Evelyn was again destined to 
 see active service in the field. In company with 
 his cousin, George Evelyn Boscawen (aged seven- 
 teen), for whom an ensign cy had been procured, he 
 embarked for Boston to join his regiment, where 
 he arrived in June, 1774. 
 
 In the preceding month (May 17, 1774), General 
 Gage had landed in Boston on his mission of coer- 
 cion from George III. Bancroft says that Gage 
 lacked the necessary firmness for the occasion, for 
 
 " he had promised the king that with 4 regiments he 
 would play the ' lion ;' and troops beyond his requisitions 
 were hourly expected. His injunctions enjoined upon him 
 the seizure and condign punishment of Samuel Adams, 
 Hancock, Joseph Warren, and other leading patriots, but 
 he stood in such dread of them, that he never so much as 
 attempted their arrest." 
 
 The general congress of delegates from all the 
 colonies or States met at Philadelphia Sept. i, 1774. 
 The first collision between the British and Ameri- 
 can troops took place in Massachusets in Feb. 1775. 
 Within a few weeks thereafter, the first actual con- 
 flict in arms occurred at Lexington and Concord, 
 (April 19). Both Captain Evelyn and young Ensign 
 
 honourably bears to this day. The record of this very distinguished 
 corps is surpassed by none in the British army, or any other, for long 
 and most gallant services in almost every quarter of the globe. 
 
William Glanville Evelyn. 9 
 
 Boscawen participated in these affairs, which are 
 vividly described in the Letters. The next month 
 (May), Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on 
 Lake Champlain, were taken by a party from 
 Connecticut and Vermont. The next (June 17), 
 the battle of Bunker Hill, near Boston, was fought, 
 to the nominal advantage of the British, but to the 
 real advantage of the Americans. Two days before 
 this battle, George Washington was commissioned 
 by the Continental Congress as Commander-in-chief 
 of the Continental army, and issued his first order 
 to the " United Provinces of North America" on 
 July 14. In August, 1775, Washington was closely 
 investing Boston, and early in March, 1776, that 
 city was evacuated by the British. After refitting 
 at Halifax, they moved on to New York. On 
 July 12, Lord Howe reached Staten Island, and 
 the troops of Clinton and Cornwallis arrived on 
 Aug. I, followed eleven days later by 11,000 Hes- 
 sians and English. On Aug. 27, the battle of Long 
 Island was fought, which ended in the abandonment 
 of Long Island to the British, and in the subsequent 
 entry of their troops into New York. 
 
 General Howe says, in his " Despatch to Lord 
 George Germaine, of Nov. 30, 1776 :" — 
 
 "On the 1 8th (Oct.) several corps re-imbarked in flat boats, 
 and passing round Frog's Neck (Throck's or Throg's), 
 landed on Pell's point at the mouth of Hutchinson's river ; 
 after which the main body crossed the mouth of that river 
 
10 Memoir of 
 
 to the same place, advanced immediately, and laid that 
 night upon their arms, with the left upon a creek opposite 
 to East Chester, and the right near to Rochelle. On the 
 march to this ground, a skirmish ensued with a small party 
 of the enemy posted to defend a narrow causeway, who 
 were pursued for a mile, when a considerable body ap- 
 pearing in front, behind the "Bendstone" stone walls and 
 in woods, some companies of light infantry, and a part of 
 the chasseurs, were detached to dislodge them, which they 
 did effectually : Lieutenant Colonel Musgrave command- 
 ing the rst battalion of Light Infantry, and Captain 
 Evelyn of the 4th Regiment, were both wounded ; the 
 latter is since dead, and much to be regretted as a gallant 
 officer, but Lieutenant Colonel Musgrave is in a fair 
 way of recovery: three soldiers were killed and twenty 
 wounded." 
 
 Dr. Stiles \ in his Diary, mentions that he was an 
 eye-witness of the above skirmish, and says in a 
 letter of Oct. 19, 1776, that there was an "unex- 
 pected fire" from Colonel Shepherd's regiment, 
 and then " a second and third, which broke the 
 enemy so much, that they ran away as fast as they 
 could in confusion ;" though, as General Heath ob- 
 serves in his Memoirs, "being immediately sup- 
 ported, they returned vigorously to the charge." 
 
 It would appear that Captain Evelyn was well 
 in advance of his company, and that after he had 
 
 ' Ezra Stiles, D.D., LL.D., born at New Haven, Connecticut, 1727 ; 
 President of Yale College from 1777 until his death in 1795. The 
 MS. diary is in the possession of Yale College. 
 
William Glanville Evelyn. h 
 
 vaulted over the wall, and whilst he lay wounded 
 (apparently dead), the retreat commenced. For 
 Colonel Glover, the American ofBcer in command, 
 writing from the camp at Mile Square, Oct. 22, 
 states, that the constant fire 
 
 " caused them to retreat several times, once in particular, 
 so far, that a soldier of Colonel Shepherd's leaped over the 
 wall and took a hat and a canteen off a Captain that lay 
 dead on the ground th&y retreated from." 
 
 According to the account preserved in the family. 
 Captain Evelyn, after vaulting over the stone wall, 
 had not proceeded far when he received three 
 bullet - shots : the first grazed his left arm, the 
 second inflicted a wound on the upper part of 
 the thigh, the third shattered the right leg above 
 the knee. Timely amputation might have saved 
 his life, but he would not consent to the operation 
 until it was too late. It was then performed in vain ; 
 and after lingering for nearly three weeks, he died 
 at New York on Nov. 6, 1776. It is supposed 
 that he was buried in the ground attached to 
 Trinity Church, New York. 
 
 His character is to be traced in his Letters. Note 
 his strong feelings of patriotism, his eagerness for 
 opportunities of distinguishing himself, his affection 
 for his friends at home, his tenderness and care 
 for young Boscawen his kinsman, and his zealous 
 regard for his duty, in refusing to exchange into 
 
12 Memoir of 
 
 a regiment going home when he had an oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 The despatch of Sir William Howe, of Nov. 30, 
 1776, and the extract from the official records of 
 the 4th, or King's Own Regiment, attest his value 
 as an officer. Some allowance must be made for 
 his strong prejudices against the American nation. 
 
 In the family account of him, he is said to have 
 been 
 
 " a great loss to his Majesty's service, — of ardent spirit, 
 zeal and talent for his profession, of a lively conversation 
 and wit, of a warm and generous character, particularly 
 well made — 5 feet 10 inches in height, with dark eyes, 
 features slightly marked with the small-pox." 
 
 He was never married, and his premature death 
 was a great calamity to his family. Had he lived 
 he would have become the head of the family of 
 Evelyn. Owing to his untimely death, his brother 
 John finally occupied this position, on the death 
 of James Evelyn of Felbridge, Surrey, LL.D., in 
 1793, without male issue; and afterwards succeeded 
 to the Wotton estates, as the devisee of Lady 
 Evelyn, who died Nov. 12, 181 7; she being the 
 widow of Sir Frederick Evelyn, third Baronet, who 
 died April i, 181 2, without male issue, and who 
 represented the younger, or Wotton branch of the 
 family. 
 
John Evelyn Esq? 
 
 RE 
 
 BORN AT ARKLOWjC? WICK LOW, I RELA N D. 1^' J u N E I 74-3, 
 mm AT \A/nTTnM c 1 1 HH rv 2711' NOV? 1827. 
 
 WOTTON I 7S4-. 
 
William Glanville Evelyn. 13 
 
 Extract from the Official Records of the \th, or 
 King s Own Regiment. 
 
 1776- "The King's Own were engaged in the move- 
 ments by which General Washington was forced to 
 abandon New York, which city was immediately taken 
 possession of by the British General s. Washington having 
 taken up a position in another part of the country, the 
 British troops were again embarked in flat - bottomed 
 boats, and landed near West Chester. Thence, re-em- 
 barking on the 1 8th of October, passed Throg's Neck, 
 and landed at Pell's-point, at the mouth of Hutchinson's 
 river. Advancing from thence, the troops encountered 
 a detachment of provincials : a sharp skirmish ensued, in 
 which several men were killed and wounded ; and the 
 
 « From London Chronicle and London Gazette for December, 1776. 
 "The accounts which have been received of the late operations of 
 his Majesty's forces are to the following effect : — 
 
 "That on the 12th of October, the Guards, Light Infantry, and 
 Reserve, together with Col. Dunop's corps of Hessian Grenadiers 
 and Chasseurs, marched from the advanced posts on New York 
 island ; and embarking in boats at Turtle Bay, passed up the East 
 river, through Hell Gate, and landed on Frog's (Throg's) Neck. 
 That having crossed the neck, they found the bridge, which joined 
 it to the main, had been broken down by the rebels, who had thrown 
 up some works on the opposite side. That being joined by the ist, 
 2nd, and 6th Brigades from Long Island, the troops embarked again 
 in boats, and landed in Pelham's manor the i8th, without opposition ; 
 and marching through a random fire of the rebels from Bendstone 
 walls, gained the road which leads from Connecticut to King's Bridge. 
 The rebels, apprehending their communication to the eastward would 
 be cut off, moved from their camp at King's Bridge, and extended 
 their left to the White Plains, a chain of stoney hills so called. 
 On the 2ist, his Majesty's light troops took possession of the heights 
 of New Rochelle. Col. Rogers with his New York companies, having 
 taken post at Maramack (Mamaronack), was attacked by a party of 
 rebels, which he drove back with considerable loss." 
 
14 Memoir of William Glanville Evelyn. 
 
 King's Own lost a most valuable and gallant officer, 
 Captain W. Glanville Evelyn, who was mortally wounded, 
 and whose fall was much regretted." 
 
 The following extracts are taken from the MS. 
 Journal of George Inman, now in the possession 
 of his great-grandson, Mr. Charles R. Hildeburn, 
 of Philadelphia : — 
 
 "In December 1775, I attached myself to the Light 
 Company of the 4th, or King's Own Regiment, com- 
 manded by my friend Captain Evelyn." 
 
 1776. "In October, part of the army embarked near 
 Hell Gate, and proceeded for New Rochelle, near which 
 my good and gallant friend received his mortal wound ; 
 and being carried to New York, soon expired, to the great 
 regret of all that knew him as a soldier or friend." 
 
ROBERT EVELIN. 
 
 "D OBERT EVELIN, a younger son of George 
 -^ Evelin (or Evelyn) of Wotton, Surrey, emi- 
 grated to Virginia before the year 1610. Some- 
 what later he was followed by his son, also named 
 Robert, and it is doubtless this Robert Evelin the 
 younger to whom we must attribute the authorship 
 of a series of Letters describing the new country, 
 with the view of attracting emigrants thither. In 
 this enterprise Robert the younger was associated 
 with his maternal Uncle Young. He returned home 
 in 1637, published his Letters, then after a time 
 re-crossed the Atlantic, and is said to have " died in 
 the West Indies." 
 
 In the year 1631 ^ Charles I. made Sir Edmund 
 Ployden a grant of all the territory now included 
 in the State of New Jersey (United States), utterly 
 disregarding a prior grant of a large portion thereof 
 to the New England Company. This concession 
 also included all the land now comprised in the 
 State of Delaware, and parts of Maryland, Pennsyl- 
 
 " This account of the settlement of New Albion, is condensed from 
 a rare little work published in Philadelphia in 1845, entitled "Remi- 
 niscences of Old Gloucester," New Jersey, by Isaac Mickle. 
 
1 6 Memoir or 
 
 vania, and New York. With this grant, and a very- 
 liberal charter, was coupled the privilege of Sir Ed- 
 mund Ployden's using the high-sounding title of Earl 
 Palatine ; and he was allowed to call his principality 
 in the wilderness " New Albion." The rampant 
 spirit of democracy in England during the reign of 
 Charles I., had unsettled the minds of many rank 
 royalists, and amongst them, none were more so than 
 a certain Beauchamp Plantagenet, who claimed a 
 lineal descent from the royal family of that name. 
 This recent grant to Ployden opened to him an 
 asylum whereby he could escape from the demo- 
 cratic evils which he thought menaced him. 
 
 He consulted with seven knights, his kinsmen 
 and neighbours, and after numerous conferences with 
 Ployden, it was agreed to send Plantagenet out to 
 New Albion, as being "the oldest and boldest 
 traveller." He was to visit all parts of Sir Ed- 
 mund's territory, and to select the best place for 
 the eight knights and gentlemen themselves, a hun- 
 dred servants, and twenty of their old tenants 
 and their families. They went over in the year 
 1636, and Plantagenet selected the country lying 
 on the river Delaware, having ascended it sixty 
 miles. He was instructed by Ployden to adhere 
 to Cato's three cardinal rules of colonization, viz., 
 "to secure a pure air, a fresh navigable river, and 
 a rich country." 
 
 Certain of Plantagenet's countrymen had already 
 
Robert Evelin. 17 
 
 preceded him on the banks of this river, from Vir- 
 ginia, and built a fort, where they waited in patient 
 expectation of meeting Ployden himself, who, how- 
 ever, did not arrive until some time before 1641. 
 These Virginia settlers were Captain Young, his 
 nephew, the famous Robert Evelin, and thirteen 
 other traders, who arrived in 1633. At this post, 
 the exact site of which is now lost, Evelin and his 
 uncle kept up a trade with the Indians for four 
 years. The various Indian tribes on the east of 
 the Delaware were at that time "in several factions 
 and wars against the Susquehannocks." Evelin 
 describes them " as extream fearfuU of a gun, naked 
 and unarmed against our short swords and picks;" 
 and adds, " I had some bickering with them, but 
 they are of so little esteem, as I durst, with fifteen 
 men, sit down or trade in despight of them." In 
 the year 1637, Evelin, tired of waiting for the ad- 
 vent of Sir Edmund Ployden, returned to England, 
 where he wrote a letter to the wife of Sir Edmund, 
 urging her husband to go and take with him to 
 America "three hundred men or more, as there 
 is no doubt but that he may doe very well, and 
 grow rich." 
 
 In 1637 also appeared the first part of Plan- 
 tagenet's description of New Albion, the glowing 
 accounts of which no doubt hastened the pre- 
 parations of the Earl Palatine to visit his pos- 
 sessions. In anticipation of his coming, the wil- 
 
1 8 Memoir of 
 
 derness was divided into baronies, and laid out 
 into manorial tracts ; all the Earl's children re- 
 ceived titles, and a chivalric order was instituted, 
 called " The Albion Knights of the Conversion," 
 which had for its main object the conversion of 
 the twenty-three kings, or sachems, of the Indian 
 tribes. Hence, upon their badge we find the arms 
 of the order impaling those of Ployden, supported 
 by the right hand of a kneeling Indian, around 
 which are twenty-three crowned heads, the whole 
 being encircled by the motto, " Docebo iniquos vias 
 tuas et impii ad te convertentur." The knight's 
 device was a hand holding a crown upon the point 
 of a dagger, above an open Bible, impaled with 
 the arms of the Palatine, which were. On a field, or, 
 two flowers proper, upon the points of a fesse 
 indented, gules, and having as Motto, " Virtus beat 
 sic suos." And as supporters, two stags, statant. 
 
 The Earl's favourite daughter. Lady Barbara, 
 " the mirror of wit and beauty," was created Ba- 
 roness of Richneck, so named from the fertility of 
 the soil she owned. This property was " twenty- 
 four miles compasse, of wood, huge timber-trees, 
 and two feet black mould, much desired by the Vir- 
 ginians to plant tobacco." Bolalmanack, or Belve- 
 dere, on the shores of the Chesapeake, of the State 
 of Delaware, was given to Plantagenet under the 
 lord's seal, as a reward for his pains in exploring 
 the country. 
 
Robert Evelin. 19 
 
 After the arrival of the Earl Palatine in New 
 Albion, about 1641, he and Plantagenet remained 
 seven years, during which time they " marched, 
 lodged, and cabinned amongst the Indians." 
 
 They were, however, unable to induce the re- 
 quisite number (3,000) of "able trained men" to 
 leave England, which had been promised them, and 
 the project was ultimately abandoned ; not, however, 
 without another effort being made, in 1648, when 
 Plantagenet's book was revised, and another edition 
 issued. 
 
 The last edition of Robert Evelin's pamphlet 
 appeared in 1648, with this long descriptive title : — 
 
 "A Description of the Province of New Albion, and 
 a Direction for Adventurers with small stock to get two 
 for one, and good land freely; and for gentlemen, and 
 all Servants, Labourers, and Artificers to live plentifully. 
 And a former discription re-printed of the healthiest, 
 pleasantest, and richest Plantation of New Albion in 
 North Virginia, proved by thirteen witnesses. Together 
 with a Letter from Master Robert Evelin, that lived there 
 many years, shewing the particularities and excellency 
 thereof. With a briefe of the charge of victuall and neces- 
 saries to transport and buy stock for each Planter or La- 
 bourer, and how to get his Master £$0 per annum or 
 more, in 12 trades at .^10 charge only a man." 
 
 This little book has become one of the very 
 rarest of all the works on the early settlement of 
 America. Allibone, in his " Dictionary of English 
 and American Authors," calls it " liber rarissimus." 
 
20 Memoir of 
 
 In the northern chancel of Wotton Church there 
 is an alabaster monument to the memory of George 
 Evelyn, Esq., the first of his family who resided at 
 Wotton. Beneath the effigies of this George Evelyn 
 and his two wives, is a group representing his 
 twenty-four children. The first four figures in the 
 group represent the four sons who survived him, — 
 Thomas, John, and Robert, by his first wife, and 
 Richard by his second. 
 
 To these four sons he left estates in the county 
 of Surrey ; Richard, the youngest, succeeded to 
 Wotton, and became the father of the celebrated 
 John Evelyn. 
 
 The male descendants of Thomas, the eldest, 
 became extinct in 1692. John, the second son, is 
 the direct ancestor of the present representative of 
 the Evelyn family. It is of Robert, the third son, 
 that we now proceed to give some account, though 
 the materials are very scanty. 
 
 He was probably born at Long Ditton, in Surrey, 
 about 1570. His mother. Rose (daughter and heiress 
 of Thomas Williams, brother and heir of Sir John 
 Williams, Knight), was buried at Long Ditton, July 
 21, 1577. In 1598, Queen Elizabeth granted a 
 patent for making gunpowder, digging for saltpetre, 
 &c., to John Evelyn, Robert Evelyn, and others, 
 on condition of delivering at the Tower of London 
 a certain number of lasts annually. 
 
 On the death of his father George, (who died 
 
Robert Evelin. 21 
 
 May 29, 1603, and was buried at Wotton May 31), 
 Robert Evelyn succeeded to an estate at Godstone, 
 Surrey; and in the same year (1603), we are in- 
 formed that a settlement of the manor of Godstone 
 was made, on his marriage with " Susanna, daughter 
 of Gregory Yung, of the county of York, Esq." ' It 
 is likely that soon after his father's death Robert 
 became involved in debt, and sold the Godstone 
 estate to his brother John, who fixed his residence 
 at Godstone; though the estate was, about 16 10, 
 conveyed to Sir William Walter of Wimbledon, by 
 the Evelyn family, as an indemnity for securities 
 which he had entered into for them. In county 
 histories and in family records there is little more 
 told of Robert Evelyn, except that he died before 
 the year 1639. 
 
 From the table of descent, annexed, it will be 
 seen that Robert had a large family of seven daugh- 
 ters and three sons ; and that his second son, Robert, 
 emigrated to America, the West Indies being a gene- 
 ral term for all transatlantic voyages. The male 
 representatives of this branch of the Evelyn family 
 are supposed to be extinct, but it is very probable 
 that there are many English families descended 
 from Robert Evelin, in the female line. 
 
 We subjoin a copy of the fragment of a letter, 
 evidently written by Robert Evelin on his depar- 
 ture from England. The letter is addressed to 
 his "mother," that is, to his stepmother Joan, his 
 
22 Memoir of 
 
 father's widow. The allusion to his sister and bro- 
 ther Stoughton, shews that the letter must have 
 been written before Nov. ii, 1610, on which day- 
 Mrs. Stoughton died. Mrs. Stoughton (born Catha- 
 rine Evelyn) was Robert's half-sister, and was mar- 
 ried to Thomas, son of Lawrence Stoughton, Esq., 
 of Stoughton in Stoke, near Guildford. The letter 
 therefore was written before Nov. 16 10, and after 
 the year 1606, when the will of Robert's father was 
 proved. We may assign the year 1609 as the pro- 
 bable date of the letter. 
 
 The "brother Richard" of the letter is his half- 
 brother Richard, of Wotton, afterwards father of the 
 author of " Sylva." The "Mr. Comber" mentioned in 
 the letter, was a relative of the family, and probably 
 identical with William Comber, one of the "overseers" 
 of the will of George Evelyn, Robert's father. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the original letter is im- 
 perfect, and very difficult to decipher. Date and 
 signature are wanting : a few words required to 
 complete the sense have been conjecturally supplied 
 within brackets : the spelling has been modern- 
 ized. The table of descent will shew the posterity 
 of Robert, so far as can be gathered from the family 
 records. Our authorities for the above facts about 
 Robert Evelyn, or Evelin, as he calls himself, are, 
 first, the records preserved at Wotton House, and 
 secondly, the various notices in Manning and Bray's 
 " History of Surrey," published in 1809. 
 
Robert Evelin. 23 
 
 From the records at Wotton House. — Fragment 
 of a letter (dated probably about 1609) from Robert 
 Evelin (or Evelyn) to his step-mother, Mrs. Joan 
 Evelyn, relict of George Evelyn, of Wotton, Surrey, 
 Esq., who died May 29, 1603 : — • 
 
 " Mother Evelyn, — I commend me most particularly 
 unto you and to my brother Richard, hoping in God of 
 your good health, which I beseech God long to continue 
 to his will and pleasure with much comfort and happi- 
 ness. I am very sorry that I am morgaged so much, that 
 I am driven to tell you to pay the hundred marks to 
 Mr. Stoughton for me, which you, at my request, did stand 
 bound so kindly for me to him. I am much grieved at 
 my heart for it that my estate is so mean, that at this time 
 I am not able to repay it ; but if it be God's pleasure to 
 restore me, I will repay it again to your good liking. I 
 am going to the sea, a long and dangerous vo[yage, with] 
 other men, to make me to be [able] to pay my debts, and 
 to restore my decayed estate again ; which, I beseech God 
 of His mercy to grant it, may be [made] prosperous unto 
 me to His honour, and my comfort in this world and in 
 the world to come ; and I beseech you, if I do die, that you 
 would be good unto my poor wife and children, which, 
 God knows, I shall leave very poor and very mean, if my 
 friends be not good unto them, for my sins have deserved 
 these punishments and far greater at God's hands, which 
 I humbly beseech God of His mercy to [pardon]. I would 
 have gladly seen you and my brother at this time, but 
 that the captain of the ship made such haste away so 
 suddenly. I am very sorry for the debts of my sister and 
 brother Stoughton, but we must all be contented with the 
 pleasure of Almighty God. [Whenever] it is His pleasure 
 
24 Memoir of Robert Evelin. 
 
 to dispose of us, no doubt they are most happy and blessed, 
 and at rest with God and out of this troublesome world. 
 My wife commends her unto you, and we do [heartily and] 
 most humbly thank you for your love and care of her ; and 
 I pray God give her years to shew herself dutiful unto 
 you for it, and thankful, and to her unkle. My mother 
 Yunge, and my brother Morris and his wife, commend them 
 unto you, and I would entreat you commend us unto 
 Mr. Comber and his wife, and Mr. Yunge and his wife ; 
 and I would entreat my brother Richard, and Mr. Comber, 
 to do me this kindness, that when [they] go to London, 
 they would sometimes see my wife, and that she may not 
 think that all my friends have forsaken her ; and that my 
 brother Richard would do me this kindness, as to give 
 my mother Yunge thank for her [great] care of me and 
 my children, and I shall be very bound to him for it." 
 
 In the " History of the County of Kent," in the 
 eastern shore of Maryland, I find the following 
 extract : — 
 
 " It now became necessary to extend and establish the 
 civil authority of the Lord Proprietor over the Island 
 (Kent), as a part of the Province of Maryland. Accord- 
 inly, on the 30th day of December, 1637, Leonard Calvert, 
 Governor of Maryland, constituted and appointed his 
 'good friend Captain George Evelyn, of the Isle' com- 
 monly called ' Kent,' to be commander of the said Island, 
 and the inhabitants thereof." 
 
 This George was in all probability the elder 
 brother of the younger Robert Evelyn, who died 
 in the West Indies, 
 
25 
 
 DESCENDANTS OF ROBERT EVELYN. 
 
 Robert Evelyn, 
 of Godstone, 
 CO. Surrey, Esq. 
 
 Susan. Elizabeth, Anna, 
 
 md. Anthony md. Henry 
 Gamage, of Haines, of 
 York CO. London. 
 
 Susanna, daughter 
 of Gregory Young, 
 of ... . Ebor. 
 
 Frances, md. 
 Harry Kelsey, 
 of Hants. 
 
 I 
 Rose 
 
 (Nun). 
 
 Mary 
 (Nun). 
 
 Margaret, md. 
 John Knatch- 
 bull, of CO, 
 Kent. 
 
 George, = Jane, daughter Robert, James. 
 
 son and 
 heir. 
 
 George, died 
 an infant. 
 
 of Richard 
 Crane, of 
 Dorsetshire. 
 
 died in 
 West 
 Indies. 
 
 Mountjoy Charles. 
 Evelyn. 
 
 I I 
 
 John. Jane, md. 
 
 .... Freemans, 
 of Gloucestershire. 
 
 Rebecca, 
 second daughter. 
 
LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPTAIN WILLIAM GLANVILLE EVELYN, 
 
 1774— 1 7;6. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 (to his father.) 
 To THE Rev. Doctor Evelyn, Trim, Ireland. 
 
 " Camp at Boston, July 6, 1774. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — Tho' we have been here these three 
 vi^eeks, no opportunity has before this time offered of 
 transmitting a letter to Europe. Admiral Montague * 
 being now relieved on this station, we avail ourselves of 
 his return to inform our friends of our safe arrival. 
 
 ° "Admiral George Montague, as post-captain, April 15, 1773, was 
 employed at the commencement of the American war, in blockading 
 the parts of Salem and Marblehead. After having captured the 
 'Washington' of 16 guns, the first vessel of war sent to sea by the 
 American States, he covered the embarkation of the army at the 
 evacuation of Boston, where, it is said, he was put in the stocks for 
 walking the streets on a Sunday. By way of retaliation, on the day 
 before the place was abandoned, he invited the mayor and aldermen 
 to dinner, and ordered his boatswain to give them a dozen lashes 
 each. After having assisted at the siege of New York, where his 
 vessel, the ' Fowey,' was stationed, his health being much impaired, 
 he returned to England." — Georgian Era, vol. ii. p. 551. 
 
Letters, etc. 27 
 
 " We sailed from St. Helen's '' on the 28th of May, and 
 with some fair and some hard-blowing weather, we made 
 this harbour the 10th of June, which we account a good 
 passage. We continued on board our vessels three days 
 and on the 14th, had the assurance to land, notwith- 
 standing the violent threat denounced against us, and 
 that evening encamped on a small common on the west 
 side of the town (I may say in the town) without any let 
 or molestation. On the day following, the 43rd regiment 
 disembarked and encamped along with us ; and just now 
 the 5th and 38th are arrived from Ireland, landed and 
 encamped in the same line, which with a small park of 
 artillery, of six pieces of cannon and two cohorns, make 
 a formidable appearance ; we besides expect to be shortly 
 re-inforced, our transports having gone to New York for 
 the 23rd regiment, and the 59th being talked of to come 
 from Halifax ; and for a corps de reserve, the 64th is in 
 Castle William, a small fortified island in the harbour. 
 
 "With this force, we have no apprehensions from the 
 very great numbers in this province, should they ever 
 come to extremities, as they sometimes affect to insinuate ; 
 for though upon paper they are the bravest fellows in the 
 world, yet in reality I believe there does not exist so 
 great a set of rascals and poltroons. You who have seen 
 mobs, generous ones compared to these, may have some 
 idea of the wretched situation of those who were known 
 
 t St. Helen's, a road or bay on the north-east coast of the Isle 
 of Wight, so named from a village in the island. It was a well- 
 known place of rendezvous for the British navy. The roadstead of 
 St. Helen's is the east entrance to the famous roadstead of Spit- 
 head, between Portsmouth and Ryde. At St. Helen's the East India 
 fleet used to stop for water and provisions, both in going out and 
 coming in, 
 
28 Letters of 
 
 or suspected to be friends to the King or government of 
 Great Britain ; they are distinguished here by the name 
 of Tories, as the Liberty Boys, the tarring-and-feathering 
 gentlemen, are by the title of Whigs. To the former our 
 arrival has, in a great degree, restored that liberty they 
 have been so long deprived of, even liberty of speech and 
 security to their persons and property, which has for 
 years past been at the mercy of a most villainous mob. 
 General Gage, as Governor of the Province, and Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the troops, has greater powers than 
 any of his predecessors. He has already dissolved the 
 Council ; though they, suspecting his intention, locked out 
 his Secretary, and would not admit him till they had 
 chosen a Committee of Correspondence to settle measures 
 with the other colonies, to force England into a compli- 
 ance with their terms by means of an association not to 
 import or buy any English goods, not to serve Ireland 
 with flax-seed, nor the West India Islands with provisions 
 or other commodities. Against this Committee the Go- 
 vernor has issued a [firm] and spirited Proclamation, 
 calling it illegal and tr[aitorous,] forbidding all people to 
 sign or offer it to be sign[ed, if they would] avoid the 
 penalties annexed to such aggravated offences ; notwith- 
 standing which it has gone on, [and] has been since the 
 Proclamation signed by [many]. But the Tories have 
 taken courage, and made a protest against such unlawful 
 proceedings. 
 
 "What all this will end in it is impossible to guess. 
 Great Britain has it in her power now to keep America 
 in the dependence she has a right to insist on ; but much 
 is to be feared from the unsteadiness of the English Go- 
 vernment, the intrigues of a disaffected faction at home, 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 29 
 
 and the stubbornness and perseverance of the enemies to 
 all Government here; what ever will be the issue, the 
 scourge at present falls upon this part of the province, 
 and most deservedly ; for they are a most execrable set 
 of villains. 
 
 " I do not see any chance of matters being adjusted ; and 
 till that happens we shall probably remain here. I shall 
 from time to time inform you of what is going forward as 
 far as comes to my knowledge, and hope now and then 
 to hear from you. This country is very fine, the climate 
 wholesome, and we all in good health and spirits, and we 
 get plenty of turtle, pine-apples, and Madeira. 
 
 " My best love to all at home, and am, 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your ever affectionate, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To THE HoNBLE. Mrs. Leveson Gower (his Cousin), 
 South-street, Grosvenor-square, London. 
 
 ^'Boston Camp, August the 26th, 1774. 
 " Madam, — As you are now more interested than ever 
 in the affairs of this country, I'm happy to have so good 
 an opportunity as the return of the ' Scarbro',' to give 
 you such accounts of our private concerns here as I 
 hope will be satisfactory to you, and quiet any little fears 
 or uneasiness your mama may be under for the safety or 
 success of her young soldier "^ ; I wrote a few days after 
 
 ° Alluding to George Evelyn Boscawen, his kinsman, who went out 
 with him, as a young ensign of seventeen, to join his regiment. He 
 
30 Letters of 
 
 his arrival by a vessel just going to sail, and he also sent 
 a letter by the same ship. Capt. Chadets is now under 
 orders, and only waits for the General's despatches, which 
 are hourly expected ; and it would be unpardonable in us 
 not to let you know by him that, since our coming here, 
 we have been in perfect good health and spirits, and seem 
 to agree very well with the new trade of soldiering ; we 
 work very hard every morning at the firelock, and have 
 already mounted guard with a command of forty men ; 
 we improve very much, and are daily getting the better 
 of those little exceptionable inclinations, which a pro- 
 fession less active would have only contributed to en- 
 courage. Believe me, madam, there is no better school 
 in the world to correct any little peculiarity of temper 
 or disposition, and I will venture to stake my credit that, 
 when you next see the young Genei'al, you shall approve 
 him ; this is a name the boys have given him from the 
 gravity of his deportment, and some alterations he has 
 proposed to have made in the management of our affairs ; 
 you must know that upon his first coming among us, he 
 discovered that the system we had followed for many 
 years was all wrong, and proceeded to lay down some re- 
 was the son of the Honble. Edward Boscawen, Admiral of the Blue, 
 R.N., who died in 1761. Young Boscawen was commissioned as 
 Ensign to the 4th foot on May 9, 1774 ; was promoted to Lieutenant 
 in the 63rd foot on Dec. i, 1775 ; to Captain in the Jth Dragoons 
 on Nov. 4, 1777 ; and sold out Dec. 31, 1782. 
 
 He returned to England in 1775, and eventually became third Vis- 
 count Falmouth, on the death of his uncle in 1782. He was born 
 May 6, 1758, and died Feb. 8, 1808 ; and was grandfather of Evelyn, 
 sixth and present Viscount Falmouth, of the county of Cornwall. 
 The Honble. Mrs. Leveson Gower was the sister of George Evelyn 
 Boscawen, and married the Honble. John Leveson Gower, Admiral 
 in the R.N., and brother to Granville, first Marquis of Stafford, who 
 was great-uncle to Colonel E. W. Vernon Harcourt, M.P. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 31 
 
 gulations for us, and to set us to rights ; but to his great 
 amazement the boys only laughed at his schemes, and 
 called him Humphrey Bland^ and the young General, 
 and I am afraid have laughed him out of his plan of re- 
 forming the army, for he seems now inclined to go on as 
 other people do. 
 
 " I copied my cousin's pleasant letter, for I value- the 
 original prodigiously ; it is a natural description of a boy 
 who has studied Bland during the whole voyage. 
 
 ^' Once more adieu. 
 
 "W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To THE HoNBLE. Mrs. Leveson Gower, South-street, 
 Grosvenor-square, London. 
 
 " Camp at Boston, Oct. 31, 1774. 
 " Dear Madam, — The receipt of your last letter filled 
 me with the utmost surprise and concern; that change 
 of constitution, from great robustness to extreme delicacy, 
 I always imagined had proceeded from the inactive kind 
 of life Mr. Boscawen ^ had led ; but never in the least sus- 
 pected it to be the consequence of any disorder or want 
 
 '' A manual for young soldiers, written by Humphrey Bland, called 
 " Military Discipline," published in London in 1727. The ninth edition 
 of this book was published in 1762. 
 
 I have found mention of an Honble. Colonel Humphrey Bland, as 
 having commanded a regiment of foot, no doubt the 36th. 
 
 ' Alluding to the death of the son of the Honble. Mrs. Boscawen, 
 which is thus mentioned in the " Gentleman's Magazine," under date 
 of July 17, 1774:— 
 
 "At the German Spa, Hugh Boscawen, Esq., son of the late Ad- 
 miral, nephew to Lord Falmouth, brother-in-law to the Duke of 
 Beaufort, and member for Truro in Cornwall." 
 
32 Letters of 
 
 of health. My immediate anxiety and concern are em- 
 ployed for the situation of your most excellent and un- 
 paralleled mother ; ill calculated from too much sensi- 
 bility to bear such repeated strokes, that revive the re- 
 membrance of misfortunes in some degree softened by 
 length of time, but now renewed with unproved affliction. 
 
 "As one wishes to draw consolation from the most 
 distant source, I should hope her sufferings on this oc- 
 casion were much alleviated by her having been for seve- 
 ral years accustomed to live without him, and to consider 
 him in a great degree as separated from her ; we have 
 to be thankful that the scene of this misfortune was at 
 a distance, whereby many additional circumstances of 
 pain were avoided. 
 
 " I observed your command, and was the first to com- 
 municate it to George, but with a great deal of precau- 
 tion, and not till I had first prepared him. I was very 
 much pleased with his manner of receiving it, which was 
 full of sensibility, affection, and manly concern, as he has 
 since conducted himself with the greatest propriety. If 
 I could not speak of him in such a manner as I think 
 would give you satisfaction, I should say no more than 
 that he was in good health, for it is a matter in which 
 I would not deceive you : but I have the greatest reason 
 to believe he will merit the approbation of his friends, 
 and do honour to his family. He has exceeding good 
 principles, and an amazing fund of understanding, both 
 of which will be of the greatest use to us in counteracting 
 some little propensities, which I hope are more the effect 
 of too much liberty at Winchester* than of, natural dis- 
 
 ' Extract from a letter from Mrs. Delany to Bernard Granville, Esq., 
 Aug. I, 1774; — "Her (Mrs. Boscawen) youngest (and now only) son 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 33 
 
 position ; you will conceive I allude to his love of in- 
 dolence and luxury. To these we shall oppose the power- 
 ful force of habit ; be that my care. 
 
 "I already see its effect, and do assure you he is not 
 only exceedingly improved in his manner, but in his air 
 and person. I hope your Mama has no thoughts of his 
 going home ; whatever turn affairs may take, it is his 
 interest to remain here some time longer, after which 
 it would not be improper to look out for a Lieutenancy 
 for him in some regiment lately come home, and in 
 England ; but by no means ever think of putting him 
 into the Guards, or suffering him to be about London. 
 
 " We still remain in our Camp on the Common ; but 
 expect in a fortnight or three weeks time to get into 
 
 had gone through Winchester School with great credit, and she had 
 promised herself great satisfaction in his making a figure as a man 
 of learning in some profession, and was preparing him for the Uni- 
 versity, when a frenzy of going into the army seized him, and he 
 would listen to no other occupation. Mrs. Boscawen thought it to no 
 purpose to thwart an inclination that had taken such root, consented, 
 and he sailed with the regiment he is in for America above a month 
 ago ; so one may say she is deprived of all her sons." — From the 
 Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville {Mrs. Delany), 
 1862. 
 
 From the Honble. Mrs. Boscawen to Mrs. Delany, May 13, 1774 : — 
 " Your cousin Mrs. Leveson is in perfect health, and in the evening 
 Mr. George reads to us Lord Chesterfield's letters, (note, Lord C. died 
 in 1773 ; his Letters were published in 1774), of which, I think just 
 as you do, and therefore very right, I doubt not. My son George 
 is clear in his choice of arms, and I have at his desire paid ;^4oo 
 for an ensigncy in the 4th Foot, or King's Own Regiment lately 
 sailed for America, where my young soldier purposes to join them 
 in the course of this summer, full as well stored with Greek and 
 Latin as my Lord Chesterfield. Oh ! my dear boy, I did not intend 
 him for this business ; but I submit, and hope time and his good 
 behaviour will reconcile me to it better than I now am, or can be 
 as yet," 
 
34 Letters of 
 
 barracks. I have taken a house for George and myself, 
 and we hope to pass the winter comfortably; it is very 
 lucky for us that at this season we have the finest weather 
 in the whole year, for the good people of this place have 
 done everything in their power to prevent our getting 
 quarters, and to distress us by forbidding all labourers 
 and artificers to work for us ; by hindering the merchants 
 to supply us with blankets, tools, or materials of any kind ; 
 by burning the straw provided in the country for the 
 troops, and threatening to stop all provisions coming 
 to the market ; but money (for which these holy men 
 would sell the Kingdom of Heaven) defeats their cha- 
 ritable intentions, and we happen to have artificers enough 
 among our men, with the help of ship- carpenters and 
 others sent us from New York and Halifax, to fit up 
 our distilleries and warehouses without their assistance. 
 
 "A reinforcement of troops is just arrived, Captain Wallis, 
 in the 'Rose' man-of-war, has brought two companies 
 of the 65 th regiment from Newfoundland ; Mr. Bourmaster 
 is just come in with his transports from New York, bring- 
 ing General Haldimand s with the 47th regiment, and part 
 of the 1 8th. With them is also my old friend Colonel 
 Prescott'', two of the Quebec fleet with the loth and 52nd 
 regiments are in the harbour, and the others expected 
 hourly. What all this preparation will end in, you, who 
 have an opportunity of knowing how far the people at 
 home are disposed, may give some guess ; but were we 
 to judge from the spirit and proceedings of the people 
 here, we should conclude that a civil war must inevitably 
 
 s Governor-General of Canada in 1777. 
 
 ■■ For an account of Colonel Prescott (afterwards Brigadier-Gene- 
 ral), see Appendix. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 35 
 
 happen in the course of a few months, or that Great 
 Britain must for ever give up America. 
 
 " This whole country is just now in a state of actual open 
 rebellion ; there is not a man from sixteen to sixty, nay, 
 to a hundred years old, who is not armed and obliged to 
 attend at stated times to train ; there is no act of treason 
 or rebellion which they have not committed, except that 
 of actually attacking the troops, from which they are re- 
 strained only by a dread of the consequences ; they have- 
 less to fear from assassination, and there are at this mo- 
 ment two of their agents in the jail of Boston, one for at- 
 tempting the lives of Colonel Cleveland ' of the Artillery 
 and Captain Montresor'' of the Engineers, the other for 
 surprising a soldier and wounding him with a sword. The 
 most respectable gentlemen, and those of the greatest 
 property in the country, in general disavow and protest 
 against the violent proceedings of the faction, for which 
 they are compelled to fly from their houses and families, 
 and shelter themselves under the protection of the troops., 
 
 ' For an account of Colonel Cleveland, see Appendix. 
 
 ■* In 1777, Capt. John Montresor was an aide to Sir William Howe ; 
 in 1778, was made Chief Engineer of North America, and he was no 
 doubt a relation of Colonel John Montresor, called the " Chief En- 
 gineer in America," who wrote "a journal of the expedition across 
 Maine to Quebec in 1775," which was published in 1831, with a num- 
 ber of General Arnold's letters included in it, by the Maine Historical 
 Society. Capt. Montresor was present at (in May, 1778), and acted as 
 one of the managers of, the celebrated ball called the " Meschianza," 
 which was given in Philadelphia, by the British officers, to Sir William 
 Howe, on the eve of his departure for England. Captain Montresor, 
 the engineer, it is stated, had charge of the fireworks and the ball- 
 room decorations. Watson the Annalist states " that there were no 
 ladies of British officers present at the entertainment, except Miss 
 Auchmuty, the new bride of Captain Montresor." The Le Tresors, or 
 Montresors, were an old Huguenot family settled in England, several 
 of whom rose to distinction in the British army. 
 
36 Letters of 
 
 Should any of these gentlemen venture home, the alarm 
 is immediately spread, his house surrounded by hundreds 
 of armed men ; and should he fall into their hands, he 
 is very fortunate if he gets off for signing, swearing, and 
 publishing whatsoever it shall please them in their fury 
 to dictate. 
 
 " Mr. IngersoU \ who is so kind as to take charge of this 
 letter, is one of those who have experienced their treat- 
 ment ; if you should see him, and have any curiosity to 
 enquire about the state of this country, he can give you 
 a very full and circumstantial [account]. I can only say, 
 from the short acquaintance I have with the holy men 
 of Massachusetts, I firmly believe that so execrable a set 
 of sanctified villains never before disgraced the human 
 species. 
 
 " Before this can arrive, the time will be past on which 
 you should receive some money from my father and me. 
 I believe you understand he has taken upon him to pay 
 forty guineas yearly, which, with the enclosed bill upon 
 our agents for nineteen pounds, makes the sum of 6 1 
 pounds, one year's interest for ;£'900 at 5 per cent, and of 
 ^400 at 4 per cent. I have also written to him by this 
 opportunity to remind him that it is become due, and 
 I am very happy to have so good a one, as the common 
 conveyance by post is no longer safe. As we have reason 
 to believe that more troops and men-of-war will be sent 
 out in the spring, there are a few things which George 
 would be very glad to receive by them ; such as a few 
 pairs of ribbed thread and silk stockings, a hat or two, 
 and a couple of silver table-spoons, but nothing would be 
 
 ' Probably Jared IngersoU, the stamp-master, who was burned in 
 effigy in 1765. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 37 
 
 more acceptable than a cask of porter, as our only liquor 
 for the table here is a stuff they call spruce beer. I men- 
 tioned my old tutor, Colonel Prescott™, having arrived 
 here : he is come a volunteer to offer his services, and 
 I hope will be allowed to remain among us ; he is the 
 man to whom I am indebted for my military education ; 
 he has begun already to assist me with his good counsel 
 and advice, which [no one] is more capable of giving, both 
 from his abilities and experience ; [he begs] me to present 
 his respectful compliments to your Mama, [and assu]re 
 her that nothing will give him greater pleasure than to 
 [have] opportunities of being in any way serviceable to 
 her son George, for which I have already thanked him 
 in her name. 
 
 " In short. Madam, I hope you will be perfectly easy on 
 his account. He is in a very good line, and will yet turn 
 out a clever fellow. I can only say for myself, that the 
 most unremitted care and attention on my part will but 
 poorly express with how much gratitude and affection 
 
 " I am, dear Madam, 
 
 " Your ever obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 "W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 " For an account of Colonel, afterwards Brigadier-General Prescott, 
 see Appendix, 
 
38 Letters of 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To THE Rev. Doctor Evelyn (his Father), Trim, Ireland. 
 
 '■'■ Boston Camp, October Z'^st, 1774. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — It happens so seldom that vi^e have 
 the opportunity of a King's ship going from hence, that 
 we are glad to lay hold of every one that offers to let 
 our friends hear from us ; they must be a good deal 
 alarmed for us indeed, if ever they see the bold and 
 desperate resolves of every village in New England, and 
 must conclude that two or three thousand poor fellows 
 of us must have long since been devoured by men of 
 their mighty stomachs ; but here we still are in our peace- 
 ful camp, and in the same situation as when I last wrote 
 to you ; nothing of any consequence has happened, but 
 great preparations for hostilities making on both sides. 
 We, on our part, have fortified the only entrance to the 
 town by land, and thrown up a very extensive work 
 in front of it. We have got General Haldimand, with the 
 47th Regiment and part of the i8th, from New York, 
 with more artillery and military stores ; two other Regi- 
 ments, the loth and 52nd, are coming in from Quebec, part 
 of them already in the harbour ; and we have a man-of- 
 war, and two companies of the 65th from Newfoundland. 
 
 " The good people of these Provinces are getting ready 
 as fast as they can ; they are all provided with arms and 
 ammunition, and every man who is able to use them is 
 obliged to repair at stated times to the place of exercise 
 in order to train ; in short, the frenzy with which the 
 people are seized is now got to such a pitch, that it can 
 go but little farther, and they must either soon, very soon. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 
 
 39 
 
 break out into civil war, or take that turn which the 
 people of England did at the time of the Restoration, 
 and wreak their vengeance on those who have seduced 
 and misled them. I believe never was so much mercy- 
 extended to any nation on the face of the earth : they 
 are now in an absolute, open, avowed state of rebellion, 
 and have committed every act of treason which can be 
 devised, but that of openly attacking the troops, which 
 they publicly declare their resolution of doing as soon as 
 they are prepared, and the season will allow them, and 
 they feel bold. 
 
 " The people of England, in the time of Charles the First, 
 behaved with decency and moderation compared with 
 these. The ' North Briton,' ' Whisperer,' ' Parliamentary 
 Spy,' 'Junius,' &c., are dutiful and respectful addresses 
 compared to the publications here ; never before did I see 
 treason and rebellion naked and undisguised ; it is the 
 only occasion upon which they lay aside hypocrisy. We 
 expected to have been in barracks by this time, but the 
 sons of liberty have done every thing in their power to 
 prevent our accommodation. As it was found difficult to 
 furnish quarters for so many men, it was resolved (to 
 avoid extremities) to build barracks on the Common, 
 where we are encamped ; for some regiments timber was 
 provided, and the frames pretty well advanced, when they 
 thought proper to issue their orders to the carpenters to 
 desist from working for the troops, upon pain of their 
 displeasure. And one man who paid no attention to their 
 order, was waylaid, seized by the mob, and carried off, 
 and narrowly escaped hanging. However, the Government 
 have procured distilleries and vacant warehouses sufficient 
 to hold all the regiments, and our own artificers, with 
 those of the men-of-war, and about JSO from New York 
 
40 Letters of 
 
 and Halifax, are now at work" upon them, and we hope 
 to get into them in ten days or a fortnight. They have 
 also forbid all merchants from furnishing their enemies 
 with blankets, tools, or materials of any kind, [and have] 
 endeavoured to hinder our getting bricks to build chim- 
 neys in our barracks, and threatened to prohibit all pro- 
 visions being brought to market ; but the force of English 
 gold no Yankey can withstand, were it offered to purchase 
 his salvation. I can give you no description of the 'holy 
 men of Massachusetts,' by which you can form a just 
 idea of what they are. There are no instances in history 
 to compare them by ; the Jews at the time of the siege of 
 Jerusalem seem to come [near them], but are injured and 
 disgraced by the comparison. 
 
 " By the time you receive this, I believe Mrs. Boscawen 
 will look to hear from you and me on the subject of 
 money ; depending on your punctuality in remitting the 
 part you were pleased to take upon yourself, I have sent 
 by this opportunity a bill upon our agent for the re- 
 mainder, which will discharge the year's interest due last 
 August or September ; and I have informed Mrs. Bos- 
 cawen that she will receive forty guineas from you. Not 
 knowing what hour the ' St. Lawrence ' will sail, I can only 
 tell you that Boscawen is grown a stout fellow, and is 
 much improved. We are both very well, and have taken 
 a house for the winter. I beg my best love to all my 
 friends ; I should be glad to hear something of them 
 when you have a spare half-hour. 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your ever affectionate, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 4.x 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To THE HoNBLE. Mrs. Leveson Gower, South-street, 
 Grosvenor-square. 
 
 ^^ Boston, December 6th, 1774. 
 
 " Madam, — We embrace with great pleasure every safe 
 opportunity that offers to inform you that we continue 
 to go on as well and as successfully as we could expect 
 or desire. Since our last packets, which went by the 
 ' St. Lawrence ' schooner, we have exchanged our houses 
 of canvas for others of wood, which are rather a better 
 defence against the severity of the weather that we are 
 told we may expect, for as yet we know very little of it, 
 having at present as fine and as delightful a season as 
 you have in England in the month of April. Mr. Cham- 
 pagne ", George and I, live together, and take it in turn 
 week about to be purveyors, and are, I assure you, no 
 despicable housekeepers. We have laid in a tolerable 
 
 " His friend Mr. Champagnd, was left one of Capt. Evelyn's ex- 
 ecutors, and is no doubt the Lieutenant Champagne who was wounded 
 on the British side at the battle of Germantown, in Oct. 1777. Capt. 
 Evelyn's will was probably confided to his friend Lieut. Champagne, 
 as Capt. Balfour, another executor, was in England. The family of 
 Champagne had been settled in Ireland since the revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes. The progenitor of the family was Josias de Ro- 
 billard, Seigneur de Champagne. On arriving in Ireland he assumed 
 the name of Champagnd They were related, as well as the Balfours 
 of Townley Hall, Ireland, to the family of the Earls of Enniskillen. 
 
 Lieut. Champagne re-appears at the south under Lord Cornwallis, 
 and with Gen. Tarleton, as Capt. Champagne, in an unsuccessful 
 attempt to capture Thomas Jefferson, and the members of the North 
 Caroline legislature, at Charlottesville, in June, 1781. 
 
42 Letters of 
 
 good stock of Port and Madeira, and hope to spend the 
 winter as well as our neighbours. Housekeeping at first 
 setting out, is, as you know, always attended with some 
 little extraordinary expense, in consequence of which we 
 have drawn another small bill in favour of the same 
 Mr. Dumaresq' for about twelve pounds, which by-the- 
 bye is scarcely sufficient ; but the demand for money here 
 is so great, and all trade with England being at a stand, 
 that it is almost impossible to get cash for a small bill, 
 even by paying from two and a-half to five per cent. 
 
 exchange If you should be in town, this letter will 
 
 be delivered to you by Colonel Prescott, who has obtained 
 leave to go home, and has most obligingly desired to be 
 charged with our letters, that he may have an opportunity 
 of seeing your Mama, and giving hpr pleasing and satis- 
 factory accounts of her son. 
 
 " In my last, I mentioned his civility upon his arrival 
 here, for which I am sure he will have your thanks. I was 
 in hopes he would have been appointed to some command 
 here ; and I regret very much that he leaves us at this 
 time, not only on account of my losing a friend, whose 
 good offices I might have expected, but because I know 
 his abilities as an officer to be of the first class, and such 
 as we shall probably have occasion for very soon. 
 
 " I need not say anything on the present state of this 
 country, for that subject I refer you to the bearer ; but 
 we are all in high spirits at the speedy return of the 
 ' Scarbro',' and of this re-inforcement of men-of-war. We 
 hope they are an earnest of the spirited resolutions of the 
 people at home, no longer to suffer the treason and re- 
 bellion of these villains to go unpunished. Never did any 
 nation so much deserve to be made an example of to 
 future ages, and never were any set of men more anxious 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 43 
 
 [than we] to be employed on so laudable a work. We 
 only fear they will avail themselves of the clemency and 
 generosity of the English, and by some abject submission 
 evade the chastisement due to unexampled villainy, and 
 which we are so impatiently waiting to inflict. 
 
 " I am very glad to observe that your Mama has never 
 expressed any desire of having George home again : in- 
 deed, at present it would not only be imprudent, but im- 
 practicable, as nobody whose regiment is here is suffered 
 to go home. I had a proposal some time ago, from 
 a gentleman in the Governor's family, to exchange into 
 Sir Adolphus Oughton's regiment, lately gone home ; but 
 whatever desire I might have to be in England, or to 
 serve under a Colonel who I should hope would conceive 
 no unjust or ill-grounded prejudices against me, circum- 
 stanced as matters are at present, I thought it my duty 
 to decline it. 
 
 " The ship which carries our letters is one of our trans- 
 ports, sent home, as 'tis said, for the purpose of bringing 
 out necessaries for the use of the troops, as there is no 
 doubt but this non - importation scheme will create a 
 scarcity, and raise the price of many articles. It would 
 not therefore be amiss, if Mr. Steer would take the trouble 
 of walking to one Mr. Busshers, in Bedford-street, Covent 
 Garden (who supplies our regiment with cloth of all 
 sorts), and would order him to pack up scarlet and white, 
 and some blue cloth sufficient for two suits, with serge, 
 &c., the proper quantity of regimental buttons, and two 
 epaulettes, directed for Ensign Boscawen of the King's 
 Own Regiment, to be sent on board the ' Charming Nancy,' 
 Captain Deverson. Mr. Steer might in his return call 
 upon Mr. Oliphant, and order a couple of plain hats, with 
 silver buttons and loops for ditto ; and might moreover 
 
44 Letters of 
 
 be very useful in providing any other things which you 
 might think acceptable to a poor fellow at a great dis- 
 tance. 
 
 " He acquainted me with your Mama's very kind offer 
 of settling my business this year with Mr. Dymoke. I am 
 already too much indebted to her generosity, and ashamed 
 to have been ever a perpetual tax upon her. I hope she 
 is not offended at my declining to accept it ; it did not 
 put me to the smallest inconvenience. I sent a bill upon 
 our agents for nineteen pounds by the ' St. Lawrence,' and 
 wrote at the same time to my father to remit the rest, 
 as he promised he would when we parted. 'Tis all I 
 trouble him for, and I should be glad to find he is more 
 punctual in that than in writing to me, for I have not 
 had one line from him since I came to America. 
 
 "I find it would have been a lucky circumstance, for 
 me at least a pleasant one, had I brought out any letters 
 of recommendation to the General, Mrs. Gage, Lord 
 Percy", or any of the great folks here. I do not mean 
 by this that you should put yourself to the trouble of 
 procuring any, as I know your readiness to interest your- 
 self for me upon all occasions. I only mean, that if you 
 should meet with any among your acquaintance who 
 have any correspondence with the great people, and who 
 would not think it a mighty obligation to mention one's 
 name, it is sometimes of use to be made known to them. 
 
 " I hope Mr. Leveson and his son p continue in good 
 health. We are a good deal surprised to hear of his 
 recovery, as we had never heard he had been ill. 
 
 ° For Lord Percy, see Appendix. 
 
 p John Leveson, the eldest son of Admiral the Honble. John 
 Leveson (Gower). 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 45 
 
 *' I beg my best respects to him, my duty to your 
 Mama, and that you will believe me to be, 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 "Your most sincerely obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 « W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To THE Reverend Doctor Evelyn (his Father), Trim, 
 Ireland. 
 
 ^^ Boston, Feb. \%th, 1775. 
 
 "My dear Sir,— About the loth of this month, I re- 
 ceived your letter (the only one I have got from you) 
 dated the 2nd of November, though it was not opened, as 
 mine to you had been, yet it did not fall short of it in 
 expense, as every letter we receive by the New York 
 Packet costs us threepence for every pennyweight ; for 
 which reason I wish our friends would endeavour to write 
 to us by vessels bound to Salem or Marble Head, or try 
 to have their letters sent in General Gage's bag, as Mr. 
 Butler sends his to his son, and saves him by that means 
 fifteen or twenty shillings a -month. If you would be 
 kind enough to enclose any letter for me to him, I am 
 sure he would be so obliging as to send it to the Secre- 
 tary of State's office in England, and I should receive it 
 with the General's despatches. 
 
 " I was a good deal alarmed at the account you gave 
 me of the violent fit which attacked you ; but your being 
 again so well recovered, makes me hope that nothing 
 remains of it but the apprehension. 
 
4.6 Letters of 
 
 "That lies innumerable should be circulated in your 
 papers with regard to what is passing here is no way 
 strange, when in this very town, where we are upon the 
 spot, the most false, impudent, and incredible relations 
 are every day published concerning us ; but the fact is, 
 the authors know them to be false, and that not a person^ 
 in this town (of about twenty thousand inhabitants) be- 
 lieves a word of them ; but they are calculated for the 
 poor deluded wretches in the country, who are all poli- 
 ticians, and swallow everything they see in those seditious ; 
 papers (and none other are they allowed to read) with 
 a credulity not equalled even in old England ; and by this 
 means is the spirit of faction kept alive, and the schemes 
 of a few enterprising, ambitious demagogues made to 
 pass upon the people for their own act and deed. I said , 
 of a few ; a great many doubtless appear to be concerned \ 
 in carrying on the business ; but would you believe it, ' 
 that this immense continent from New England to Georgia 
 is moved and directed by one man i ! a man of ordinary 
 birth and desperate fortune, who by his abilities and 
 talent for factious intrigue, has made himself of some 
 consequence, whose political existence depends upon the 
 continuance of the present dispute, and who must sink 
 into insignificancy and beggary the moment it ceases. 
 
 " People in general are inclined to attribute the ferment 
 that at present subsists in this country to a settled plan 
 
 1 " Samuel Adams," wrote Galloway, " though by no means re- 
 markable for brilliant abilities, is equal to most men in popular 
 intrigue, and the management of a faction. He eats little, drinks 
 little, sleeps little, and thinks much, and is most decisive and in- 
 defatigable in the pursuit of his objects. He was the man who, by 
 his superior application, managed at once the faction in Congress 
 at Philadelphia, and the factions in New England." 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 47 
 
 and system, formed and prosecuted for some years past 
 by a few ambitious, enterprising spirits ; but in my opinion 
 the true causes of it are to be found in the nature of 
 mankind ; and [I think] that it proceeds from a new na- 
 tion, feeling itself wealthy, populous, and strong; and 
 [that they] being impatient of restraint, are struggling 
 to throw off that dependency which is so irksome to them. 
 The other seems to me to be only the consequence ; such 
 a time being most apt for men of abilities, but desperate 
 fortunes, to set themselves forward to practise upon the 
 passions of the people, foment that spirit of opposition to 
 all law and government, and to urge them on to sedition, 
 treason, and rebellion, in hopes of profiting by the general 
 distraction. 
 
 " This is the case of our great patriot and leader, Sam 
 Adams'- Hancock", and those others whose names you 
 
 ' The Venerable John Adams, in a short autobiography written at 
 Quincy, Dec. 30, 1815, says: — "The late Governor, Samuel Adams, 
 was not my brother. He was no nearer relation to me than a second 
 cousin : we had the same great-grandfather. John, was my father ; 
 Joseph, junior, was my grandfather ; the oldest son of Joseph Adams, 
 senior, my great-grandfather. Governor Adams was the son of 
 Samuel Adams of Boston ; the grandson of John Adams of Boston ; 
 and the great-grandson of Joseph Adams, senior, of this parish, now 
 called Quincy, who was the common ancestor of us both." 
 
 • From the "New York Journal." Extract from a letter dated 
 Boston, March 22, 1775: — "On the 17th, in the evening. Col. Han- 
 cock's elegant seat, situate near the common, was attacked by a num- 
 ber of officers, who with their swords cut and hacked the fence before 
 his house in a most scandalous manner, and behaved very abusively, 
 by breaking people's windows, and almost insulting every person they 
 met." "On the evening of the i8th, a number of officers (heated 
 with liquor as is said) with drawn swords ran through the streets, like 
 what they really were, madmen, cutting every one they met. The 
 stage coach, just arrived from Providence, passing by, they attacked 
 it, broke the glass, and abused the passengers ; the driver being 
 
48 Letters of 
 
 hear, are but his mere tools ; though many of them are 
 men of no mean abilities. Hancock is a poor contemptible 
 fool, led about by Adams, and has spent a fortune of 
 thirty thousand pounds upon that infamous crew ; has 
 sacrificed all he was worth in the world to the vanity 
 of being admitted among them, and is now nearly re- 
 duced to a state of beggary. The steps by which the 
 sons of liberty have proceeded, and the strides with which 
 they are now hasting to rebellion and civil war, are set 
 forth in a very masterly manner by a writer (on our side), 
 under the signature of Massachusettensis ' ; which papers, 
 
 a smart fellow, jumped off his seat, caught one of them (Captain G.), 
 and some blows passed, when the officer retired, not much to his 
 credit." "On the 19th, Colonel Hancock was again much insulted 
 by a number of inferior officers and privates, who entered his en- 
 closures, and refused to retire, after his requesting them so to do, 
 telling him that his house, stables, &c., would soon be theirs, and 
 they would do as they pleased. However, on his application to the 
 General, he immediately sent one of his aides-de-camp to the officer 
 of the guard at the bottom of" the common, to seize any officer or 
 private who should molest Colonel Hancock, or any inhabitant in 
 their lawful calling.'' 
 
 ' This is the full title of this, now, rare little work : — 
 " Massachusettensis J or, A Series of Letters containing a faithful 
 state of many important and striking facts, which laid the foundation 
 of the present troubles in the Province of the Massachusetts bay, 
 interspersed with animadversions and reflections originally addressed 
 to the People of the Province, and worthy the consideration of the 
 True Patriots of this Country. By a person of honour upon the spot. — 
 
 " ' Falsus honor juvat et mendax infamia terret 
 
 Quem nisi mendosum et mendacem ? Vir bonus est quis ? 
 Qui consulta patrum, qui leges juraque servat. ' 
 
 Horace, Ep. xyi." 
 
 Which may be thus rendered into English : — 
 
 " Whom does false honour please, or lying slander terrify, except 
 the vicious and the false ? Who is a good man ? He who observes 
 the decrees of the Senate, the laws and rules of justice." 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 49 
 
 as far as they have been hitherto published, I have en- 
 closed to Mr. Butler at the Castle, directed for you ; they 
 will give you a better idea of the nature of this important 
 contest than any on the other side, which are composed 
 of sedition, treason, misrepresentation, and falsehood, 
 framed by villains of the first water, and greedily swal- 
 lowed with the credulity of ignorance, and the malignant 
 zeal of inveterate fanatics. 
 
 " It is but very lately that a Tory writer dare appear, 
 or that a Printer could be prevailed on to publish any 
 thing on the side of Government ; and nothing now pro- 
 tects them, but the presence of the troops in Boston. 
 Those who have remained in the country, whose circum- 
 stances and situation would not admit of their leaving 
 their families, are hourly in danger. Some are prisoners 
 in their own houses ; a mob constantly mounting guard 
 about them, lest they should escape; and others have 
 been treated with the utmost barbarity. Words cannot 
 give you an idea of the nature of the lower class of people 
 in this province : they are utterly devoid of every senti- 
 ment of truth or common honesty: they are proscribed 
 throughout the whole Continent, and possess no other 
 
 " The third edition, Boston printed ; London, reprinted for J. Mat- 
 thews, No. 18 in the Strand, MDCCLXXVI." There is a preface of 
 eight pages, and pp. ii8. In all sixteen letters. The first dated 
 Dec. 12, 1774; the last, April 3, 1775. 
 
 Until recent years, the authorship of these letters was ascribed 
 to Jonathan Sewell, who was Attorney-General of Massachusetts in 
 1767. Now, however, it is believed they were written by Daniel 
 Leonard, a native of Norton, Massachusetts, afterwards Chief-Justice 
 of Bermuda. He was opposed to American independence, and is 
 said to have written " Massachusettensis " in opposition to some 
 patriotic pamphlets issued by John Adams, under the signature of 
 Novanglus. 
 
50 Letters of 
 
 human qualities but such as are the shame and reproach 
 of humanity. 
 
 " As the event of this very important question depends 
 upon the determination of the people of Great Britain, 
 and as they have such unhappy divisions, and so many 
 dangerous enemies to their country among themselves, it 
 is impossible to form any conjecture about it. We who 
 know our own powers, and the helpless situation of the 
 people, consider it as the most fortunate opportunity for 
 Great Britain to establish her superiority over this country - 
 even to reduce it to that state of subjection, which the 
 right of conquest may now give her the fairest title to ; 
 at least, to keep it in that state of dependency which they 
 are now avowedly attempting to free themselves from, 
 and which, had they waited for another century, they 
 would probably achieve. Though the point at presennj' 
 in view is, to be independent of Great Britain, and to seti 
 up for themselves, yet I do not believe the most sanguines 
 of them have any expectation of accomplishing it at thisji 
 time; but they hope to make some approaches, and toi', 
 gain something towards it. In this struggle their great 
 dependence is upon the tenderness and clemency of the 
 English, who they imagine will consider them \indetj> 
 infatuation, and will give up some points to them out 
 of humanity, rather than push matters to extremity ; 
 and indeed, they may with reason think so, for under 
 no other Government on the face of the earth would they 
 have been suffered to perpetrate so many horrid villainies, 
 as they have done, without being declared in a state of 
 rebellion, and having fire and sword let loose among them. 
 From the accounts given by the faction, people would 
 imagine that the colonies were unanimous to a man in 
 their opposition to Government, but the contrary is the 
 
Capt. W. G. EvelVn. 5 1 
 
 fact ; there is a very large party in our favour, and thou- 
 sands inclined to our side, who dare not openly declare 
 themselves, from an apprehension that Government may 
 leave them in the lurch ; this you may depend upon as 
 a certain truth, that those gentlemen who have declared 
 on our side are men of the best property in this country, 
 and those who before these troubles were in the highest 
 esteem, and most respected among the common people. 
 
 " The hour is now very nigh in which this affair will be 
 brought to a crisis. The resolutions we expect are by 
 this time upon the water, which are to determine the fate 
 of Great Britain and America. We have great confidence 
 in the spirit and pride of our countrymen, that they will 
 not tamely suffer such insolence and disobedience from 
 a set of upstart vagabonds, the dregs and scorn of the 
 human species ; and that we shall shortly receive such 
 orders as will authorize us to scourge the rebellion with- 
 rods of iron. Under this hope have we been hitherto re- 
 strained, and with an unparalleled degree of patience and 
 discipline have we submitted to insults and indignities'', 
 from villains who are hired to provoke us to something 
 that may be termed an outrage, and turned to our dis- 
 
 " From " New York Journal." Extract from a letter dated Boston, 
 March 22, 1775 : — "Since the army has found that the season is past 
 for nature's forming a bridge from hence, they became abusive and 
 insulting. They are now finishing their fortifications on the rocks, 
 by picketing on each side. The i6th inst. (being recommended by the 
 Provincial Congress to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer), 
 on the morning of this day, the Society at the west end of Boston was 
 greatly disturbed by a party of officers and soldiers of the 4th, or 
 King's Own Regiment. When the people were assembling, they 
 brought two markee (sic) tents, and pitched them within ten yards 
 of the meeting-house; then sent for three drums, and three fifes, 
 and kept them beating and playing till service was over." 
 
52 Letters of 
 
 advantage ; but these are all treasured up in our memories 
 against that hour in which we shall " cry havock, and let 
 slip the dogs of war." Excuse my indignation, I cannot 
 speak with patience of this generation of vipers. If any 
 troops should be ordered from Ireland with officers of dis- 
 tinction, I should beg your interest to procure me some 
 recommendations. 
 
 " The value of recommendations is not to be told. I have 
 the honour of being pretty well known to General Gage, 
 and Lord Percy, who are both very civil to me ; and 
 I have lately had a favourable introduction to their no- 
 tice from a little jeu d' esprit that amused them in one 
 of the papers, and which they suspect me of having had 
 a hand in. 
 
 "You must not believe implicitly the reports that are 
 spread of the deaths and desertions among the troops ; 
 there have been some, and some regiments have been 
 more unlucky than others ; but it is very trifling, when 
 you consider that no pains or expenses have been spared 
 to seduce our men. Our regiment, nevertheless, has not 
 lost more than we usually have done in the same length 
 of time in Great Britain. Boscawen, Champagne ''j and I, 
 keep house together. The weather is delightful ^ beyond 
 description, and we are in perfect good health and spirits. 
 
 " Wishing the same to all friends at home, 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your ever aiifectionate, 
 
 " W. G. E." 
 
 » Mr. Champagne, one of his friends. 
 
 7 "The winter (of I77S), at Boston, was the mildest ever known." 
 — {Bancroft) 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 53 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To THE Reverend Doctor Evelyn (his Father), Trim, 
 Ireland. 
 
 "Boston, April 22,rd, 1775. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — It is impossible but you must hear 
 an account, and probably a most exaggerated one, of the 
 little fracas that happened here a few days ago, between 
 us and the Yankey scoundrels. Our bickerings and heart- 
 burnings, as might naturally be expected, came at length 
 to blows, and both sides have lost some men. Were you 
 not to hear from me on the occasion, you might imagine 
 I was hurt ; at least, you expect from me some account 
 of the affair. The rebels, you know, have of a long time 
 been making preparations as if to frighten us, though we 
 always imagined they were too great cowards ever to 
 presume to do it ; ' but though they are the most absolute 
 cowards on the face of -the earth, yet they are just now 
 worked up to such a degree of enthusiasm and madness, 
 that they are easily persuaded the Lord is to assist them 
 in whatever they undertake, and that they must be in- 
 vincible. 
 
 "On the night of the i8th instant, the Grenadiers and 
 Light Infantry of our little army, making near 700 men, 
 embarked privately, and crossed above the common ferry 
 here, in order to go to a town about twenty miles off, 
 to destroy some cannon, provisions, &c., that had been 
 collected there ; the country having been alarmed by the 
 appearance of troops in the night, they assembled from 
 every quarter ; and within about five miles of the place 
 (Concord), our men found themselves opposed by a body 
 
54 Letters of 
 
 of men in arms, whose design appeared to be to stop their 
 progress. This they were soon convinced of, by receiving 
 a scattering shot or two from them, upon which a few 
 of our people fired, and killed seven or eight minute men ; 
 and so passed on to Concord, where they destroyed some 
 iron guns, gun-carriage wheels, and about lOO casks of 
 flour. 
 
 "On their return to Boston, they were attacked from 
 the woods and houses on each side of the road, and an 
 incessant fire kept up on both sides for several hours ; 
 they still retiring through the wood whenever our people 
 advanced upon them. About eight in the evening (the 
 19th) our brigade, consisting of the 4th, 23rd, 47th regi- 
 ments, and the Marines, with the six pounders, marched 
 to meet them, little suspecting what was going on ; about 
 3 o'clock we came up with them, and began immediately; 
 we observed on our march as we went, that the houses 
 along the road were all shut up as if deserted, though we 
 afterwards found these houses were full of men, and only 
 forsaken by the women and children ; having executed 
 our orders, and being on our return to Boston, we were 
 attacked on all sides, from woods, and orchards, and stone 
 walls, and from every house on the road side (and this 
 country is a continued village), so that for fourteen miles 
 we were attacking fresh posts, and under one incessant 
 fire. We sent out large flanking parties, who soon scoured 
 the woods and stone walls; and whenever we were fired 
 on from houses or barns, our men dashed in, and let very 
 few of those they could find escape. 
 
 " The loss of the rebels cannot be ascertained, but we 
 have reason to think several hundreds were killed. Our 
 regiment had four or five men killed, and about twenty-four 
 wounded. Of the whole, about seventy killed, and 150 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 55 
 
 wounded ; among which last were several officers. Con- 
 sidering the circumstances, we should have thought our 
 loss inconsiderable, were it not for the death of one, the 
 most amiable and worthy man in the world. You will be 
 grieved to hear that my poor dear friend, Joe Knight, 
 received a ball through the body, of which he died next 
 day, [to] our unspeakable grief, and the general loss of 
 the whole army. Poor little Gould ^ received a wound 
 a little above his heel, and going home before the division, 
 was intercepted, and is detained among them ; but we 
 hear that they do not use him ill, and that he is attended 
 by a surgeon. Boscawen and I escaped unhurt. I wish 
 they would purchase a Lieutenancy for him at home, 
 for I am very uneasy lest anything befall him while he 
 is with me. The country is all in arms, and we are ab- 
 solutely invested with many thousand men, some of them 
 so daring, as to come very near our outposts on the only 
 entrance into town by the land. They have cut off all sup- 
 plies of provisions from the country ; but we feel no want, 
 having many months' allowance in the harbour. We ex- 
 pect every day the three Generals ", and a strong re-inforce- 
 ment of troops from Great Britain and Ireland. I wish 
 they were arrived. 
 
 " I shall not fail to write by the first opportunity ; in 
 the meantime, my love to all at home, and believe me, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 ' For " little Gould," see Appendix. 
 
 ' On May 25, 1775, Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne ar- 
 rived with reinforcements. Bancroft mentions that they brought 
 their angling-rods with them. 
 
S6 Letters of 
 
 English account of the Battles of Lexington and 
 Concord, taken from " The Historical Record of 
 the ^2nd Regiment." 
 
 "In the spring of 1775, General Gage having been 
 informed that the Americans were collecting military- 
 stores at Concord, about eighteen miles from Boston, the 
 flank companies of the 5 2nd, and of several corps, were 
 ordered to proceed on an expedition to destroy the stores, 
 under the command of Lieut-Colonel Francis Smith, of 
 the loth Foot ; and Major John Pitcairn, of the Marines. 
 The troops embarked in boats at 10 o'clock in the night 
 of the 1 8th of April, proceeded to the entrance of the 
 Cambridge river ; and having landed at Phipp's farm, 
 advanced upon Concord. In the meantime the Americans, 
 by the ringing of bells and the firing of guns, had alarmed 
 the whole neighbourhood. About four o'clock in the 
 morning of the 19th of April, the light company of the 
 loth being in advance, approached the village of Lex- 
 ington, where a body of American militia was forming. 
 They were ordered to lay down their arms ; but taking 
 shelter behind a stone wall, several of them fired at the 
 King's troops. A volley from the latter laid ten of the 
 militia dead upon the spot, wounded several, and dis- 
 persed the rest. This was the first blood drawn in the 
 American war. After this skirmish the troops continued 
 their march to Concord ; and as soon as the object of the 
 expedition was accomplished, namely, the destruction of 
 the military stores, they commenced their march upon 
 Boston, under a heavy fire, which was continued by the 
 Americans until the arrival of the force at Lexington, 
 about five miles distant. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 57 
 
 " Skirmish succeeded skirmish, until the soldiers were 
 exhausted, and had expended nearly all their ammunition. 
 Fortunately a reinforcement, consisting of a brigade of 
 infantry and two guns, under the command of Colonel 
 Earl Percy, came to their assistance at this place. His 
 Lordship formed his men into a square, with the ex- 
 hausted flank companies in the centre ; and after a short 
 halt, continued the retreat to Charlestown, whence he 
 crossed the river by ferry to Boston, having lost several 
 men from the incessant fire which the Americans kept 
 up from behind walls, trees, and over coverts on both 
 sides of the road. 
 
 "The loss of the 52nd was confined to three rank and 
 file killed, two wounded, and one sergeant missing." 
 
 In the MS. Diary of Brigadier-General Jedidiah 
 Preble, of Falmouth, under date Wednesday, Au- 
 gust 9, 1 775, occurs the following entry : — 
 
 " Overcast. This morning I met a man that deserted 
 from the regulars this day fortnight ; as sensible, intelligent 
 a fellow as I ever met with — he was at Lexington fight. 
 He says he came out with Lord Percy, and that he asked 
 a young fellow of his acquaintance who fired the first. 
 The soldiers, when they came where the Provincials were, 
 one of them flashed his piece, on which a regular officer 
 fired, and swung his gun over his head, and then there 
 was a general fire. They had seventy -five killed and 
 missing, 233 wounded." — From Historical Magazine {N . F.), 
 vol. iii. p. 153, year 1859. 
 
58 Letters of 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To THE HoNBLE. Mrs. Leveson Gower, South-street, 
 Grosvenor-square, London. 
 
 " Camp at Boston, June 6tk, 1775. 
 "Dear Madam, — Though I have already sent one 
 letter directed for you on board the ' Cerberus/ yet 
 I cannot help adding a little more, to announce the safe 
 arrival of the ordnance ship which brought me your letter, 
 with a particular account of my father's preferment •>. 
 I cannot tell you how sensibly I feel this mark of your 
 goodness, and the infinite obligation you have laid me 
 under by your kind attention, in seeking an opportunity 
 to communicate to me what gives me the highest satis- 
 faction ; and, indeed, it gives me very sincere pleasure, 
 not from the smallest idea of personal advantage (as you 
 will readily believe), but I hope it will make him happy, 
 and contribute to give him better health and better spirits ; 
 for I know few men I do so much admire, or should love 
 so well, were he even only an acquaintance. For his sake 
 and some others, I like the Chancellorship ; but for my 
 own part, the dignity of the Deanship is not the least 
 pleasing. Honour, you know, is the principle of our pro- 
 fession ; and if there is any honour in hard knocks, we are 
 likely to have some share : the profit is not yet come 
 to our turn. I cannot omit expressing my obligation 
 
 * His father had, on April 24, 1775, been appointed by Earl Har- 
 court (then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), Dean of Emley, county 
 Tipperary, and Chancellor of Dromore, county Down, Ireland, both 
 being ecclesiastical appointments. — (W. J. E.) 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 59 
 
 to Captain Leveson for the trouble he took in tran- 
 scribing my father's letter. I am not the less indebted 
 to him that he did it for your sake ; and I have no doubt 
 but he rejoices in our good fortune, because it gives you 
 pleasure, and because you have been instrumental in it. 
 It is my sincere prayer that these reciprocal kind offices, 
 which are the marks of confidence and esteem, may long 
 subsist between you, and continue to make you the happi- 
 ness of each other. 
 
 "The 'Charming Nancy,' with Brigadier-General Pres- 
 cott ", arrived safe the third instant. By him, George re- 
 ceived a gold repeating watch, and a letter from Mrs. Bos- 
 cawen. I had the pleasure of hearing by him that he had 
 seen her, and that she was in perfect good health. I be- 
 lieve George never neglects to write by every safe oppor- 
 tunity ; I never fail to exhort him, though I must do him 
 the justice to say, I believe it is unnecessary. 
 
 " In a letter to Mrs. Boscawen shortly after the igth of 
 April, I hinted to her a desire of looking out for a Lieu- 
 tenancy to purchase for George in some regiment lately 
 gone home. This desire arose purely from the anxiety 
 and uneasiness I was under all that day lest an unlucky 
 ball should involve us in fresh distress, and complete her 
 misfortunes ; and what might we not apprehend, when 
 the most amiable young man I ever knew, Mr. Knight *, 
 fell by the hands of a rebel ? We have since been toler- 
 ably quiet ; but when the forces from Ireland arrive, we 
 
 = "June 3rd, (1775)- This day the 'Lovely Nancy,' who went to 
 England some months ago, returned from there, bringing necessaries 
 for the army ; in her came Col. Prescott, now made a Brigadier- 
 General." — From Journal of a British O^f^r (unpublished part), in 
 the possession of Miss Elizabeth EUery Dana, of Boston. 
 
 '' Lieutenant Joseph Knight, of the 4th Regiment. 
 
6o Letters of 
 
 shall no doubt commence an active campaign ; and though, 
 were he my brother, I should wish him engaged in all 
 the busiest scenes of it, yet knowing how much your 
 mother is wrapped up in him, I confess I cannot be with- 
 out uneasiness at his being subject to the chance of war ; 
 and what could I say to her, should any accident befall 
 her only remaining son ? But if you are all satisfied 
 to commit him, I declare I think his present situation 
 the most desirable and most fortunate one he could be 
 thrown into ; and you would think so, could you see how 
 much he is improved ; and I know he would be far froiji 
 wishing to exchange it. You are the best judges upon 
 this occasion, and to you I entirely submit it. 
 
 " My best wishes and compliments attend you. Captain 
 Leveson, and the young Hero. 
 
 "I am, dear Madam, with the truest gratitude and 
 esteem, 
 
 "Your ever obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 Between the date of the last letter (June 6th), and the 
 next one, to the Honble. Mrs. Leveson Gower (dated 
 Aug. 19th), he no doubt wrote to his father, giving him 
 a full account of the battle of Bunker's Hill, on the 17th 
 of June ; for we find that he was so much awakened to the 
 increasing bitterness and intensity of the coming struggle 
 and the fiery ordeal through which he had that day passed, 
 that he wrote his will that same evening ; and later on, 
 when the troops were about disembarking, and were ofiT 
 Staten Island (Aug. 20, 1776), he also attached to it 
 a long codicil. Full copies of both of these interesting 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 6i 
 
 documents will be found in the Appendix. Presuming 
 that a letter was written to his father shortly after 
 June 17th, it may have been passed around among the 
 relations and friends of the family in Ireland, and never 
 returned to his father. Many enquiries have been made, 
 but no other letters can be found of Capt. Evelyn's than 
 these embodied in this collection. 
 
 It may, however, be opportune to quote here the 
 brief account of the battle of Bunker's Hill, found in 
 the historical record of the 52nd (or Oxfordshire Light 
 Infantry), which regiment played such a distinguished 
 part in the battle, and suffered so severely. William 
 Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, said of it, — 
 that it was "a regiment never surpassed in arms, since 
 arms were borne by men." 
 
 "The Americans were plainly seen at work, throwing 
 up entrenchments around the hill ; and preparations were 
 at once made for landing a body of men to dislodge the 
 enemy, and take possession of the works. Ten companies 
 of Grenadiers, ten of Light Infantry, with the 5 th, 38th, 
 43rd, and 52nd regiments, with a proportion of Field Ar- 
 tillery, were detailed for this service. Embarking from 
 Boston in boats, about noon of the 17th of June, the 
 troops crossed the river, and landed on the opposite 
 shore, when they formed immediately; the Light Infantry 
 being posted on the right, and the Grenadiers upon their 
 left. The Sth and 38th drew up in the rear of those 
 corps, and the 43rd and 52nd formed a third line. The 
 ships of war opened their fire upon the enemy's works, 
 and the troops ascended the steep hill, and advanced 
 to storm the entrenchments. The approach to the hill 
 was covered with grass, reaching to the knees, and in=. 
 tersected with walls and fences of various enclosures. 
 
62 Letters of 
 
 The difficult ascent, the heat of the weather, and the 
 superior numbers of the enemy, and their incessant fire, 
 made the enterprise particularly arduous. The Light In- 
 fantry were directed to force the left point of the breast- 
 work, to take the enemy's line in flank ; while the Grena- 
 diers were to attack in front, supported by the 5 th and 
 52nd regiments. These orders were executed with per- 
 severance ; and notwithstanding the numerous impedi- 
 ments offered, the enemy was forced from his stronghold, 
 and driven from the peninsula, leaving behind five pieces 
 of cannon. 
 
 " In this action the 52nd particularly distinguished itself. 
 It suffered, however, severely ; the whole of the grenadier 
 company, with the exception of eight men, were either 
 killed or wounded. 
 
 "From August 25, 1775, the 52nd regiment was aug- 
 mented from ten to twelve companies of fifty-six privates 
 each." 
 
 The late General Martin Hunter, who was present as 
 an Ensign in the S2nd, writes in his Journal : — " The 
 grenadier and light companies (of the several regiments 
 before enumerated) attacked the breastworks extending 
 from the Charleston heights (or Bunker's Hill) redoubt 
 to the Mystic river; while the remaining companies at- 
 tacked the redoubt itself. About one hundred yards from 
 the latter, they were stopped by some brick-kilns and 
 enclosures, and exposed for some time to the whole of 
 its fire; and it was here that so many men were lost. 
 The remains of the 52nd regiment continued at the 
 advanced post the whole of the night after the battle ; 
 several attacks were made on them during the night, but 
 the Americans were constantly repulsed." 
 
CApr. W. G. Evelyn. 63 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To THE HoNBLE. Mrs. Leveson Gower, South-street, 
 Grosvenor-square. 
 
 "Boston Camp, August i()tA, 1775. 
 
 " Dear Madam, — The ' Charming Nancy ' returns once 
 more to visit you, and carries with her Mrs. Gage, and 
 others of less note, whose curiosity as to the business 
 of war is, I beUeve, sufficiently satisfied, and who begin 
 to discover that a winter may be full as agreeable in 
 London as in a town invested on all sides by thousands 
 of armed men, cut off from all resources (I may almost 
 say) by sea as well as by land, and threatened every day 
 to be attacked with fire and sword. With you, who are 
 so jealous of the honour of the British flag, I shall risk 
 my credit, if I tell you what insults have been offered to 
 it with impunity ; but indeed they are too many to relate. 
 
 " The Yankey fishermen in their whale-boats have re- 
 peatedly drove off the stock, and set fire to the houses 
 on islands, under the guns of the fleet. They have killed 
 a midshipman of the Admiral's (Brown), and destroyed 
 the sloop he commanded. They have burned the light- 
 house at the entrance of the harbour, killed Lieutenant 
 Colthurst (who commanded thirty Marines), some of his 
 men, and took the rest prisoners. 
 
 "They have burned an armed sloop belonging to the 
 ' Rose' man-of-war, and we hear have taken another, called 
 the ' Diligence,' belonging to the Admiral, and lastly have 
 cut off nine-and-thirty of the 'Falcon's' crew, and have 
 taken all her boats except one ; the Lieutenant has made 
 his escape, much wounded. And to complete all, the 
 
64 Letters of 
 
 Admiral has had a boxing-match in the streets, has got 
 his eyes blackened, and his sword broke by a gentleman 
 of the town, whom he had used very ill, and struck re- 
 peatedly, before he returned his blows. 
 
 "A few nights ago General Clinton had laid the plan 
 of giving the rebels a general alerte, which was to have 
 begun at twelve o'clock, by surprising and attacking all 
 their outposts at the same instant ; and the Admiral was 
 at the same time to have made a descent, and burned 
 a small town on the coast. Our part succeeded as well 
 as we could wish, indeed better, for with a few men of 
 our regiment I had the honour of burning an advanced 
 post of the rebels, which was more than was intended 
 in the original plan. The Admiral's part miscarried, but 
 for what reason I do not know. The truth is, there is 
 no good understanding between him and the General, 
 and he endeavours to counteract the General wherever 
 he is concerned. Every man both in the army and navy 
 wishes him recalled, as the service must always suffer 
 where there is such disagreement betwixt the leaders. 
 
 " Our situation has undergone very little change since 
 the affair of the 17th of June, except the daily loss of 
 men and officers in the hospitals. I suppose the accounts 
 of that transaction did not meet with credit in England, 
 and that it could not be believed that a thousand men 
 and officers of the bravest troops in the world could 
 in so short a time be cut off by irregulars. After two 
 or three such instances, you good people of old England 
 will find out that five or six thousand men are not suffi- 
 cient to reduce a country of 1500 miles in extent, fortified 
 by nature, and where every man from fifteen to fifty is 
 either a volunteer, or compelled to carry arms ; amongst 
 whom the number of our countrymen is very great, and 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 65 
 
 they are the most dangerous enemies we have to en- 
 counter. [The people of England] will find out that 
 some other mode must be adopted than gaining every 
 little hill * at the expense of a thousand Englishmen ; and 
 if they mean to continue niasters of this country, they 
 will lay aside that false humanity towards these wretches 
 which has hitherto been so destructive to us. They must 
 lay aside the notion that hurting America is ruining Great 
 Britain, and they must permit us to restore to them the 
 dominion of the country by laying it waste, and almost 
 extirpating* the present rebellious race, and upon no 
 other terms will they ever possess it in peace. 
 
 " Major Bishop's state of health making it necessary 
 for him to go home, I think I shall take the liberty of 
 troubling him with this letter, though I believe he cannot 
 get a passage in the ' Charming Nancy,' but goes in 
 another which sails at the same time. I fancy George 
 writes by him, and to his information I refer you for 
 particulars as to us and our situation. I dare say this 
 report of George will give you satisfaction. I shall only 
 say in general, that he continues to improve. I dare say 
 you are in some concern for us, from the idea of our being 
 obliged to live upon salt pork and pease. Fresh provision 
 is in general rather scarce, very dear, and not of the best 
 kind ; but we come in for a share now and then. We 
 have had a good recruit within these few days ; our trans- 
 ports having brought in upwards of two thousand sheep 
 
 ' Alluding to the battle of Bunker's Hill. 
 
 ' In reference to the above passage, great allowance should be 
 generously made for the writer. The expression about " extirpating " 
 is quite unworthy of a brave soldier and a Christian gentleman. It 
 is foreign to the real nature of the writer, who was carried away by 
 his feelings. — (W. J. E.) 
 
66 Letters of 
 
 from some islands near New York, which is a very season- 
 able relief to our sick and wounded. George and I come 
 in sometimes for a good dinner among the great people, 
 and are particularly indebted to Lord Percy and General 
 Clinton. We have not the honour of an introduction to 
 General Burgoyne. 
 
 " I am strictly enjoined, whenever I write to you, not 
 to omit presenting Adair's most respectful compliments 
 to you and Captain Leveson. He is much taken notice 
 of here, and in great repute from having been one of the 
 first men who entered the enemy's works on the 17th of 
 June. He is strongly recommended for a company, and 
 I hope will get one, as there has been a great mortality 
 among the Marine captains ; five or six of them being 
 already dead. 
 
 " My best wishes attend you and Captain Leveson, and 
 little family. 
 
 " I am, dear Madam, 
 
 " With the greatest esteem, 
 
 " Your faithful and obedient servant, 
 "W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To THE Reverend Doctor Evelyn (his Father), Trim, 
 Ireland. 
 
 '■'■Boston Camp, August i^th, 1775. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — I cannot suffer a ship to sail from 
 hence without writing to you, though it should be only 
 half-a-dozen Hues to say I am well. A transport sails to- 
 morrow, and takes home Mrs. Gage, some other ladies. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 67 
 
 and our disabled men. I fancy they will find it full as 
 agreeable to pass the winter in England, as to spend it 
 here upon salt pork and pease. 
 
 "We have, however, just now got a recruit of fresh 
 provisions [by] a fleet of transports which were sent to 
 some islands near New York, with about 2,000 sheep and 
 some oxen. These will be of infinite service to our poor 
 sick and wounded people, with whom the hospitals are 
 crowded, and who suffer very much from the flux. We 
 find nothing more difficult to get here than money; none 
 to be had under 15 per cent, and not always even for 
 that, and without it nothing else can be had. 
 
 " If a boat, as sometimes happens, comes in with a few 
 half-starved sheep, we must pay a shilling a pound, or eat 
 no mutton. However, we get on, and hope before winter 
 your plentiful country will furnish us abundantly with 
 good beef, and butter, and potatoes. Those who have 
 connections in Cork have sent to their friends for a 
 supply. 
 
 "The rebels have got some reinforcements of riflemen 
 from Virginia and Pennsylvania, mostly Irishmen. They 
 have made some little attempts upon our out- parties, 
 without success ; and we have taken one or two of them 
 prisoners. We have one of them in jail, whose name 
 is Creuse, [he] comes from the county Westmeath, and 
 says he is related to Miles and Wat Dowdall. I suspect 
 his name to be Dowdall, and that he was Captain of the 
 party, because we know that they were commanded by 
 a man of that name ; but he denies being the person, 
 and says he was only a Corporal. 
 
 "They are burrowing like rabbits all around us, de- 
 termined not to leave us a passage through which we 
 may surprise them. We gave them a hearty fright a few 
 
68 Letters of 
 
 nights ago, by attacking their outposts on all quarters 
 at the same instant. It was done with a view of dis- 
 tracting them, whilst the Admiral was to make a descent 
 and burn a little town in the bay ; but he miscarried as 
 usual, and the Fleet was once more defeated. On our 
 side we threw them into great confusion, and [I am] 
 convinced, had it been the plan to push [forward] about 
 2,000 men, we might have got into their very works ; but 
 nothing more was intended than to give them a general 
 alerte, and to make a diversion. However, I had the 
 good fortune, by pushing forward with about a dozen 
 men, to burn four or five houses in which they kept an 
 advanced post. On General Howe's [side], I am afraid we 
 had a few men wounded by our people, who got into some 
 confusion in the dark. The letters in the enclosed were 
 taken in a sloop, and are worth your reading. I only 
 desire in return that you will send me, from Cork, a cask 
 of beef, another of tongues, two of butter, two of potatoes, 
 and a hogshead of claret, and you will much obhge, &c. 
 
 " W. G. E." 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To THE Reverend Doctor Evelyn (his Father), Trim, 
 Ireland. 
 
 " CharkstoKin, near Boston, October "jth, 1775, 
 per General Gage. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — Ships arrive here from Great Britain 
 every week, and bring packets for everybody but me. 
 My good friends, indeed, in England remember me, and 
 frequently seod me -packets, and other good things; but 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 69 
 
 they also complain that they know as little of you, as 
 if the Atlantic rolled between you. But I shall persevere 
 in letting you hear from me, and hope now and then 
 to extract a letter from you. As I know you like any- 
 thing better than writing, I am willing to compound with 
 you, and will let you off upon easy terms. I am now 
 so situated, from my recommendations to the general 
 officers, and some little notice they have been pleased 
 to take of me, that I am among the number of those 
 who flatter themselves that some time or other it may 
 be my turn to receive marks of their favour. In the 
 meantime, nothing so much assists one's own endeavours, 
 as to put those gentlemen frequently in mind of one 
 through the means of their own particular friends. Now, 
 my dear Sir, what I would willingly engage you to do 
 for me is, when you find yourself in Dublin, or among 
 any great folks, to remember poor me three thousand 
 miles off, 'my lodging upon the cold ground,' and now 
 and then ducking at the whistling of a twenty-four pounder, 
 one of which came a few days ago into our camp, went 
 through one of our tents, and fairly took the crown out 
 of one of the King's Own Grenadiers' hats. His head 
 was not in it. Now, Sir, there's nothing reconciles being 
 shot at to one, so much as being paid for it. 
 
 " If, therefore, as I said before, when you get among 
 lords spiritual and temporal, you would cast about, and 
 find out through what channel you could come at Gene- 
 ral Howe, General Clinton, Lord Percy, General Grant, 
 Colonel Patterson, any General or man of rank who may 
 be coming out, or may hereafter be sent out, you will 
 hardly conceive what importance it is of to one; even 
 the communicating any little news to me either public 
 or private, gives one an appearance of consequence, and 
 
70 Letters of 
 
 is of great advantage. 'Tis. inconceivable the trifling cir- 
 cumstances by which one rises in our line. General Howe 
 (upon General Gage's return) being Commander-in-Chiei 
 here, has taken an officer s of ours to be his aide-de-camp : 
 nobody can tell why. Lord Percy being made a Major- 
 General, has taken another, to the astonishment of every- 
 body ; but they have reasons of their own. Among the 
 general officers here. General Howe, General Clinton, and 
 Lord Percy, are particularly civil to me. General Howe 
 is married to a sister of Mr. Conolly's, who is at her 
 brother's in Ireland. In short. Sir, I shall leave the mode 
 to yourself, or to those who can inform you better than 
 I can ; nor do I know anybody who could put you in 
 the line so well as your friend Mr. Butler at the Castle, 
 who knows everybody, and their connections. 
 
 " There is another point, my dear Sir, upon which 
 I must request of you to exert yourself for me ; it is of 
 the most material consequence to me, as this is the period 
 for us soldiers to push our fortunes. Should this war 
 continue a few years longer, new levies must certainly 
 be made. In sixty-two, when five regiments were raised 
 in Ireland, you could have had a company for me by 
 only speaking to a Provost, and I should now certainly 
 be something higher. If another such opportunity should 
 offer, I hope you will not be unmindful of me. I have 
 taken up this profession for life, and it is my business 
 to get on in it as fast as possible. I cannot say I have 
 any great pretensions to more than I have already got, 
 nor have I got more than I have a good right to. There 
 are a number of companies to be raised just now; perhaps 
 when they are complete they may be regimented, but 
 
 6 Captain Nisbitt Balfour was made his second aide-de-camp. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 71 
 
 I am only alluding to what may happen a year or two 
 hence. 
 
 " I am just now encamped on the heights of Charles- 
 town, or Bunker's Hill, the scene of action on the 17th 
 of June. We expect to be pretty late in the field this 
 year, and shall probably not be idle during the winter. 
 The next campaign we shall have something to do, for 
 General Howe will not trifle when he gets reinforcements 
 and proper authority. 
 
 " I hope before the end of it to be able to tell you 
 that Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and all the capital 
 towns on the Continent, are but stacks of chimneys like 
 Charlestown here. 
 
 " Boscawen is well. The regiment is in camp in Boston ; 
 but the Light Infantry company which I command is 
 here. I expect the Grenadiers before Christmas. I beg 
 my love to all at home. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate, 
 
 " W. G. E." 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To THE Reverend Doctor Evelyn (his Father), Trim, 
 Ireland. 
 
 '■'■Boston, December 4, 1775. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — As I make it a rule to write to 
 you by every opportunity, notwithstanding I never hear 
 from you, — that is, not above once a -year, — I cannot 
 suffer the 'Boyne' to return without letting you know 
 
72 Letters, of 
 
 that we are still in camp ; yet we are in toleralale good 
 health and spirits, and not yet so overrun with the scurvy 
 as you would expect of people who live upon salt pork, 
 without roots or vegetables of any kind. The Light 
 Dragoons, and such gentry who have a good deal of 
 money, may now and then get fresh provisions ; but your 
 Infantry in general cannot well afford to give eighteen- 
 pence a pound for mutton and bad butter, twelve shillings 
 for a goose, six for a chicken, and twelve shillings for 
 a bushel of potatoes. I am glad, however, there was no 
 beef, butter, or potatoes for me on board the ship that 
 lately came from Cork freighted with these things, and 
 a quantity of claret sent to different officers by their 
 friends in Ireland; for the rebels have taken her with 
 some of their little privateering schooners of four and 
 six guns, who every day insult the British flag with im- 
 punity, and who will continue to take every ship that 
 is not either provided for defence, or sent under convoy. 
 We must suppose that all representations sent by the 
 army of the state of this country, are regarded as chi- 
 merical or exaggerated. One would think that the taking 
 of Ticonderoga, and June 17, would have put the matter 
 past doubt. But if these are not sufficient, perhaps their 
 being in possession of all Canada except Quebec, (and we 
 are in hourly expectation of hearing that it has surren- 
 dered,) the taking some of pur transports, and among 
 them a brig loaded with mortars, shells, carcasses, and all 
 kinds of ordnance stores, may open the eyes of the people 
 at home, and convince them that this is a more serious 
 matter than they apprehended. 
 
 "This brig, whose safe arrival was of the utmost con- 
 sequence to us, and whose cargo was of most infinite im- 
 portance to the rebels, because she contained the very 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 73 
 
 things they were in the greatest need of, and could not 
 be supplied with by any other possible means, was sent 
 from England with other Artillery ships, and she the only 
 one of them without a soldier on board, and totally un- 
 provided with any means of defence. 'Tis said they 
 sailed under the convoy of the ' Phoenix ' man-of-war, 
 who quitted them a few days after they left the land. 
 The others are all arrived, and she who was of such con- 
 sequence to us, we hear is taken, notwithstanding we had 
 several men-of-war out cruising for her ; and two of them 
 actually fell in with her, and parted again in a gale of 
 wind. 'Tis impossible to consider the circumstances of 
 this affair, and to call it accident. Surely some inquiry 
 will be made into it, and examples made, for there must 
 be a fault somewhere, and it is a matter of indifference 
 to us whether it is by design or carelessness ; the enemy 
 are supplied, so [we] are to be sacrificed by it. 
 
 "As they are now enabled to burn Boston, I most 
 sincerely hope they will do it, that we may be enabled 
 to leave it, and transfer the scene to some other part 
 of the Continent. I have lately had some letters from 
 Mrs. Boscawen, so full of distress at her son's situation, 
 that I have solicited General Howe to permit him if 
 possible to go home. He has in the kindest manner in 
 the world appointed him a Lieutenant in the 63rd Regi- 
 ment, and ordered him home recruiting. We have pro- 
 cured him a passage in the ' Boyne,' which is said to sail 
 to-morrow, and he takes charge of this letter. I shall be 
 exceedingly relieved by having this weighty charge taken 
 off my hands ; but I feel more satisfaction in being in the 
 smallest degree instrumental to the comfort and happiness 
 of the best of women, whose goodness to me is more than 
 I can express. 
 
74 Letters of 
 
 "General Burgoyne goes home in the 'Boyne,' I sup- 
 pose to lay a state of this country before the nation. He 
 appears, from the line he has taken here, to have been 
 intended rather as a negotiator (had he been admitted 
 to any intercourse) than to be active in the field. He 
 is a man of great abilities, and power of language: his 
 going home is extremely judicious : his representations 
 of affairs will give a great bias. His coadjutors, Howe 
 and Clinton, are certainly two of the first men in out 
 service. It will give you satisfaction to hear that they 
 are both particularly civil to me. I am more immediately 
 under the command of the latter, and have been on one 
 or two little parleys with him, in which he has done me 
 singular honour. Some time ago, he proposed an excur- 
 sion across the water towards Cambridge, to reconnoitre 
 the rebels' situation, and was pleased to communicate his 
 intention to me the day before, with orders to examine the 
 ground and report to him. We landed next day, with 
 about 200 Light Infantry, on a hill where the rebels had 
 a guard, and having been appointed to command the 
 advanced party, I endeavoured to gain a pass and cut 
 them off; however, they got there before me, and after 
 firing at me from a good distance, retreated, except one 
 man, whom I took prisoner. They fired several cannon- 
 shot at us from their works, and a good deal of small 
 arms from numbers of them that came down towards the 
 pass, which the tide had then overflowed, but without 
 doing any execution, though their shot reached us. We 
 stayed till we did our business, when the men were ordered 
 to re-embark, and I had the honour of being left with 
 thirty men as a rear-guard, till they should be all on 
 board. Orders were then sent to me to retire, which 
 I did very quietly ; and when they saw the coast cleat 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 75 
 
 they took courage, and ventured over, and threw away 
 a vast deal of ammunition when we were out of their 
 reach. Our people at Charleston and the ' Scarborough ' 
 man-of-war fired some round and grape-shot at them with 
 good effect, as we are since told ; eight or nine were killed. 
 Our men, in returning to the boats, carried off a dozen 
 head of cattle, which sold for ^^150. The money was 
 divided among the soldiers and sailors, and General Howe 
 gave them a present of porter. I had the satisfaction 
 of receiving the thanks of both generals in a very pleasing 
 manner, for the little I had to say to the matter. It was 
 very pleasant ; a little praise will at any time draw a sol- 
 dier into a scrape. The hills were crowded with specta- 
 tors, and we are told it was one of the prettiest sights they 
 ever beheld. What made it most satisfactory was, that 
 we completed our business and returned, without having 
 a man hurt. In a few days we hope to have our works 
 upon this hill (Bunker's Hill) completed, and the barracks 
 fit to receive the Guards. We are then to go into Boston 
 for the winter, leaving 600 men here, to be relieved every 
 fortnight. 'Tis a pity General Gage did not fix some plan 
 for the winter before he went away; our works would 
 have been finished, and we should not have been kept 
 in the field till this season of the year. Those on the 
 Boston side have been in quarters some time. We look 
 every day for the Irish transports : only one of them 
 is arrived, with three companies of the 17th Regiment, 
 among them Captain Lyons ; and in his company of 
 Grenadiers is James Lorimer, son of Hugh Lorimer, over 
 the Ban. He is a stout, likely young fellow, and I hope 
 I may have it in my power to be of some service to him. 
 If by one of the many ships that sail from Cork it were 
 practicable to send me a little beef, butter, or potatoes. 
 
75 Letters of 
 
 any of them would be extremely acceptable these hard 
 times. 
 
 " I should be glad to hear how the Corporation goes on. 
 
 " My love to all friends. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 ♦- 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 To THE HoNBLE. Mrs. Leveson Gower, South-street, 
 Grosvenor-square. 
 
 '■^ Boston, January \^th, iTt6. 
 
 " Dear Madam. — Some ships will have arrived in 
 England with officers and men from hence, by whom you 
 may probably have expected to receive letters from me ; 
 but at the time of their departure I was on a detached 
 duty, which prevented my writing by them. However, 
 the omitting of an opportunity is now of less consequence, 
 as the great object of your solicitude is long since (I hope) 
 safely arrived among you. From the winds we had here 
 about the time of his sailing, we conclude he must have 
 had a very quick passage ; and as his coming must have 
 been quite unexpected, I hope he took precautions not to 
 surprise his Mama. I gave him very particular charges 
 on that head, knowing how much she would be affected 
 at his sudden appearance. She must feel great satisfac- 
 tion at our succeeding as happily in every circumstance 
 as we could wish, and I hope her mind is now perfectly 
 at ease. The arrival of the ' Boyne ' will open the eyes 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 77 
 
 of the nation, and we hope great effects from the powers^\ 
 of General Burgoyne. The obstinacy of these people \ 
 is such, that it is necessary they should feel the severity / 
 of punishment, and in the spring we expect to begin with / 
 them in earnest. They have gone so far, that they cannot 
 easily recede, and it will require a powerful force to subdue 
 them. The assistance of foreign troops will be highly 
 politick, and of those, Russians are certainly the most 
 eligible, not only as being good soldiers, but by their not 
 having any connections in this country; and from not 
 understanding the language, they are less likely to be 
 seduced by the artifice and intrigue of these holy hy- 
 pocrites. 
 
 "A large force will be necessary, as we shall probably 
 keep three armies on foot : one here, one to the south- 
 ward, and one in Canada, if we have not entirely lost it ; 
 but we imagine General Carlton is still in possession of 
 Quebec, and it is just now reported that he has given the 
 rebels a drubbing, and taken their commander — a Colonel 
 Arnold — prisoner. Brigadier Prescott'' is taken, and is, 
 with several other officers, prisoner at Albany. Ad- 
 miral Shuldham '■ is arrived, to the great mortification of 
 Mr. Graves, who most unwillingly resigns to him, and sets 
 out on his return home in a fortnight or three weeks' time. 
 Neither the ' Centurion,' ' Orpheus,' or ' Experiment ' have 
 yet appeared. As we have had remarkably violent gales 
 of wind, 'tis thought they may be drove to the West 
 Indies. The last letter I received from Mrs. Boscawen 
 
 '' For an account of Brigadier Prescott, see Appendix. 
 
 » Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, afterwards created Baron Shuld- 
 ham, of the peerage of Ireland. The title became extinct with him. 
 " Mr. Graves " was Admiral Graves, who arrived at Boston in the 
 " Preston," of 60 guns, on July i, 1774. 
 
78 Letters of 
 
 mentions that she had ordered some portable soup, and 
 that Captain Leveson had sent from Plymouth a hogshead 
 of porter and a large cheese for George, Avhich I suppose 
 may be on board one of those ships, as I hear nothing of 
 them from any yet arrived. This instant there is an 
 account of the ' Centurion ' lying in the bay, so that 'tis 
 possible the others may not be far off. 
 
 " In some former letters, I mentioned the civilities that 
 Generals Howe and Clinton were pleased to shew me, 
 particularly the latter, under whose command I had more 
 particularly enlisted, by changing to the Light Infantry 
 company. He is now ordered on some expedition (report 
 says to the southward) ; he takes with him only two com- 
 panies, one of which is mine, granted, as I am told, at his 
 own particular request. The men have been on board 
 a transport for some days, and to-morrow I expect to 
 embark on board the ' Falcon ' (Captain Linzee), and sail 
 immediately. The General goes in the ' Mercury,' but 
 sends me in the other, having done me the honour of 
 employing me in a matter of some trust and importance, 
 which I am not at liberty to explain. Diligence and 
 attention shall not be wanting on my part to promote the 
 success of this undertaking, and acquit myself of my small 
 share with credit to myself, and satisfaction to my com- 
 manding officer. 
 
 "The applications from officers to go upon this expe- 
 dition are innumerable ; not one in the garrison who does 
 not envy my situation. Lord Rawdon ■' (who is very much 
 
 ^ Then a lieutenant of the grenadier company of the 5th Regiment. 
 Became afterwards Earl of Moira and Marquis of Hastings. He 
 distinguished himself in the south by his command of the troops 
 until the arrival of Lord Cornwallis. He was Governor -General 
 of India for nine years. He died at Malta in 1826. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 79 
 
 my friend) has, with some difficulty, obtained leave to go 
 as an extra aide-de-camp. We promise ourselves we shall 
 have a pleasant party, and perhaps do good service. 
 Boston we bid adieu to, and only desire to hear that 
 
 " Grass may grow where Troy town stood." 
 
 Indeed, it is fast approaching to that state ; for every 
 regiment furnishes a constant working party of twenty 
 men, who are employed in pulling down houses, and 
 piling the wood for firing, which gives us hopes that! 
 in a short time this hotbed of rebellion will be reduced; 
 to a very narrow compass. ' __^ 
 
 "The theatre flourishes surprisingly, and has brought 
 forth some very capital performers. We were most ridi- 
 culously interrupted a few nights ago, just as they were 
 going to begin ' The Blockade of Boston,' a performance 
 of General Burgoyne, taking off the figures and manner 
 of the Yankee soldiers, and by all accounts a very laugh- 
 able thing'. The 'Busy Body' was ended, and every one 
 
 ' " It was about the same time that a large assembly, determined to 
 keep their spirits up, were collected to enjoy the sport of a farce, said 
 to be written by General Burgoyne (previous to his Saratoga expe- 
 dition, of course), in which General Washington, now commanding 
 at Cambridge, as the hero, was dressed in an uncouth style, with 
 a large wig and long rusty sword, attended by his orderly sergeant, 
 in his country dress, having on his shoulder a rusty firelock, 7 or 8 feet 
 long. At the moment this figure appeared on the stage, one of the 
 regular sergeants came running on behind him, who threw down his 
 bayonet, and shouted, 'The Yankees are attacking our works on 
 Bunker Hill !' (This was after the battle.) Some of the audience 
 considered it a part of the play, but were undeceived by hearing 
 General Howe cry out, ' Officers, to your alarm posts !' when all was 
 confusion and dismay, and the gay congregation dispersed in the 
 twinkling of an eye." — Traits of the Tea Party {Boston), being a Me- 
 moir of Geo. R. T. Hawes, p. 211. 
 
 From the late General Martin Hunter's Journal :—" During the 
 
8o Letters of 
 
 waiting with impatience for the curtain to be drawn up, 
 when we were alarmed with the report of firing; upon 
 which we all turned out, went to our respective posts, and 
 cursed the Yankees for spoiling our entertainments. A few 
 impertinent fellows, it seems, under cover of the night, 
 stole into Charlestown, and set fire to two or three de- 
 serted, half-demolished houses ; upon which our people 
 fired some shots at them from the works, which dis- 
 turbed us, and obliged us fairly to raise the siege. If 
 that was their intention, they deserve some credit for 
 timing it so well ; 'tis probable it was, for they cannot 
 stand ridicule. 
 
 " We are threatened with Sir J. Amherst "" ; the army do 
 
 winter, plays were acted at Boston twice a- week, by the officers and 
 some ladies. A farce called the 'Blockade of Boston,' written by 
 General Burgoyne, was acted. The enemy knew the night it was to 
 be performed, and made an attack on the mill at Charleston at the 
 very hour the farce began ; they fired some shots, and surprised and 
 carried off a sergeant's guard. We instantly turned out, and manned 
 the works ; and a shot being fired by one of our advanced sentries, 
 a firing commenced at the redoubt, and could not be stopped for some 
 time. An orderly sergeant standing outside the play-house door, who 
 heard the firing, immediately running into the play-house, got upon 
 the stage, crying out, ' Turn out ! turn out ! they're hard at it, hammer 
 and tongs.' The whole audience, supposing the sergeant was acting 
 a part in the farce, loudly applauded ; and there was such a noise, he 
 could not for some time make himself heard. When the applause 
 
 was over, he again cried out, ' What the d 1 are ye about ? If ye 
 
 won't believe me, ye need only go to the door, and there ye'll hear and 
 see both.' If the enemy intended to stop the farce, they certainly 
 succeeded, as the officers immediately left the play-house, and joined 
 their regiments."— Quoted in History of the ^ind Regiment. 
 
 ■» In February, 1775, the British Government determined to raise 
 the army in Boston to 10,000 men, and supersede General Gage. The 
 service was offered to General Jeffery Amherst, but declined, unless 
 the army should be raised to 20,000 men. Sir William Howe was 
 then appointed. The threatened infliction of Sir J. Amherst perhaps 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 8i 
 
 not like it. They wish to remain as they are ; but if it is 
 to be, I shall hope for your good word. My best respects 
 wait on Mrs. Boscawen, and Captain Leveson, and my 
 friend George. His old school-fellow, Barker, will this day 
 be a Captain in the loth Regiment. 
 
 " Till I can inform you where I am to be found, I shall 
 hope to receive your letters directed, as usual, to Boston. 
 
 " I am, Madam, 
 
 " Your ever obliged, 
 
 "W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To THE Reverend Doctor Evelyn (his Father), 
 Trim, Ireland". 
 
 ^^ Boston, January i^tk, 1776. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have delayed writing to you to the 
 last moment, that I might be able to inform you of a 
 circumstance that I hope will give you pleasure. I have 
 before told you that upon two or three little occasions, 
 I have had the good fortune to recommend myself to 
 the notice of General Clinton. He is now going upon 
 some expedition" (common fame says to Virginia), and 
 
 alludes to the report of some fresh change in the command of the 
 troops. Sir J. Amherst was a Knight of the Order of the Bath, and was 
 created on his return to England a peer of the realm, as Lord Amherst. 
 
 ° Dean Evelyn died at Dublin, March, 1776. 
 
 ° To Carolina. " The expedition to the Carolinas never met the 
 approval of Howe, who condemned the activity of the southern 
 governors, and would have them avoid all disputes till New York 
 should be recovered. When Lord Dunmore learned from Clinton 
 
82 Letters of 
 
 takes two companies of Light Infantry to attend him. 
 He has been pleased to choose mine and the 44th ; they 
 are already on board a transport, and I expect we shall 
 sail to-morrow. The General goes in the 'Mercury,' and 
 has ordered me on board the ' Falcon ' sloop-of-war, on 
 a private expedition of consequence and trust, and which, 
 from the discretionary powers given to me, is highly 
 honourable and flattering. And now for a little good 
 fortune at setting out ! It shall not be my fault if I do 
 not parvenir. Lord Rawdon ^ goes with the General, 
 about his person ; he is very much distinguished here 
 as a most promising young man in the military line, 
 and I am flattered to think I hold some place in his 
 good opinion. If from your acquaintance with Lord 
 and Lady Moira you could procure me any further re- 
 commendations to him, I should be much obliged to you. 
 
 "I have hardly time to desire to be recommended to 
 my friends, or to say how much 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your affectionate, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 that Cape Fear river was the place appointed for the meeting of 
 the seven regiments from Ireland, he broke out into angry com- 
 plaints, that no heed had been paid to his representations, his 
 sufferings, and his efforts; that Virginia, 'the first on the continent 
 for riches, power and extent,' was neglected, and the preference 
 given to 'a poor insignificant colony' where there were no pilots, 
 nor a harbour that could admit half the fleet, and where the army, 
 should it land, must wade for many miles through a sandy pine 
 barren, before it could reach the inhabited part of the country." — 
 Bancroft. 
 
 p Lord Rawdon, afterwards the Earl of Moira, died at Malta, 
 in 1826. 
 
The Hon^'t'F M'!'^ (Frances) Boscawen. 
 
 BORN 1719. DIED ISO 5. 
 FROM A PORTRAIT AT WOTTON, PA I NTED BY RAMSEr, 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 83 
 
 LETTER XV, 
 
 To THE Honourable Mrs. Boscawen, Colney Hatch,. 
 Middlesex. 
 
 '■^ New York Island, September 24^/2, 1776. 
 
 "Dear Madam. — Captain Balfour « of our regiment, 
 aide-de-camp to General Howe, has promised to charge 
 himself with any letter I may have to send to England, 
 and should I have an opportunity of seeing him before 
 his departure, I shall enjoin him to wait upon you to 
 give you any information you may be desirous of hearing, 
 of our situation and the state of affairs here. He carries 
 home the accounts of our getting possession of New 
 York, which, by a masterly stroke of General Howe, 
 was effected without the loss of a man, except two or 
 three Hessians, who were killed through their own faults. 
 From the time of our driving the rebels out of Long 
 Island, they daily expected an attack upon York, and 
 had so strengthened themselves with batteries and breast- 
 works, that they looked upon a landing as impracticable. 
 
 1 Captain Nisbitt Balfour, of the 4th Foot, was one of the exe- 
 cutors of Captain Evelyn's will. He commanded the " Queen's Guards," 
 sent to protect the loyalists of Marshfield, Massachusetts, in De- 
 cember, 1774, by General Gage. General Gage's return of the loss 
 at Bunker's Hill, includes Captain Balfour as wounded. He was 
 subsequently stationed at New York, and while there (see Historical 
 Magazine, vol. ii. p. 183, 1858), he told an American prisoner (who 
 had known Captain Balfour at Marshfield), "that he came out- of 
 the fight at Charleston with only five men following him, while he 
 had entered it with a full company." He was second aide-de-camp 
 to General Howe, and was made a major whilst in England, Nov. 
 19, 1776, and returned to the seat of war not very long afterwards. 
 He was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and commanded at Charleston, 
 South Carolina, in 1781. 
 
86 Letters of 
 
 with fanatic rage set it on fire in three places, and not- 
 withstanding the endeavours of the troops and many of 
 the inhabitants, it continued to burn till the next after- 
 noon, by which one-third of that beautiful town is con- 
 sumed. T/iej/ may dignify it with the name of heroism 
 and virtue, but to zis it will ever appear the excess of 
 villainy even in the virtuous Mr. Washington. And when 
 the conduct of our General toward the town and people 
 of Boston is compared with this action, it must strongly 
 mark the different characters of the two nations, as wel' 
 as of the individuals who are the actors in this civil war. 
 
 "Since the skirmish on the i6th, nothing worth men 
 tioning has happened, except that yesterday three men- 
 of-war were ordered to attack , a battery of theirs called 
 Pauli's Hook, and some troops were at the same time 
 embarked in order to be under cover of their fire. Upon 
 the ships appearing before the work, the rebels ran away, 
 and our men are now in possession of it. Having now 
 cleared all the little obstacles out of our way, we expect 
 that another grand stroke will take place before winter, 
 which will not only clear this island of the rebels, but 
 probably disperse the great numbers they have collected ; 
 which, once done, the gam.e is up, for they never will 
 assemble again, many of them being compelled to serve, 
 and the greater part of them heartily sick of this busi- 
 ness, as appears by their crowding in to us every day. 
 
 " One of their Generals (Sullivan), who was taken on 
 the 27th, got permission to go to the Congress, to ne- 
 gotiate an exchange of himself for General Prescott ■=, in 
 consequence of which General Prescott is expected in 
 to-day. After Mr. Sullivan had been at the Congress, 
 
 ■ General Prescott was exchanged for General Charles Lee. 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 87 
 
 they sent three deputies, Adams, Franklin, and Rutledge, 
 to treat with Lord Howe about an accommodation ; but as 
 they set out with 'the Independent States of America,' 
 they were dismissed without listening to any further 
 insolence. 
 
 "I must acknowledge that I have received a letter 
 from my friend George*, which I have not answered, 
 but firmly propose it when I have sufficient time and 
 paper. When Captain Balfour explains to him our situ- 
 ation on the advanced post of the army, he will excuse 
 
 ' The only surviving son of Admiral Boscawen. Admiral the 
 Honourable Edward Boscawen, third son of the first Lord Falmouth, 
 was born in Cornwall, August 19, 17 11. He entered the Navy at 
 an early age, and was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1737. 
 In 1739 he commanded the " Shoreham,'' and distinguished himself 
 at the taking of Porto Bello. He was returned to Parliament for 
 Truro in 1741, and represented that borough until the day of his 
 death. In 1742 he married Frances Evelyn Glanville. He com- 
 manded the "Dreadnought," of sixty guns, in 1744, greatly dis- 
 tinguishing himself in the years 1746 and 1747, and rose rapidly in 
 the service. In 175 1 he became a Lord of the Admiralty; in 
 1758 he commanded the naval forces at the reduction of Louisburg 
 and St. John. On his return to England he received the thanks 
 of the House of Commons, and was made a Privy Councillor. He 
 rendered most efficient service in many engagements with the French 
 during the years 1758 and 1760, and again received the thanks of 
 Parliament. He died January 10, 1761, at Hatchlands, near 
 Guildford, Surrey, and was buried in the family vault, church of 
 St. Michael, Penkivel, Cornwall, near Tregothnan, the seat of the 
 Falmouth family. His widow, whose published letters to Mrs. Delany 
 shew her to have been a lady of great refinement and considerable 
 literary ability, erected a handsome memorial to his memory in the 
 church of St. Michael. Horace Walpole styled Admiral Boscawen 
 "the most obstinate of an obstinate family ;" but Lord Chatham, who 
 must have had better means of appreciating his character, passed 
 this handsome eulogium upon him : " When I apply to other officers 
 respecting any expedition I may chance to project, they always raise 
 objections and difficulties : Boscawen always finds expedients." 
 
88 Letters of 
 
 me a little longer. I own I often congratulate myself 
 that he is not with me. I beg to be remembered to him, 
 and to present my best respects to my good Mrs. Leveson, 
 and the House of Badminton \ 
 
 " I am, my dear Madam, with the highest respect, 
 " Your ever obliged and humble servant, 
 
 "W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 ♦ 
 
 The following Letter was probably the last received by 
 Mrs. Evelyn from her son. The Letter is much worn and 
 soiled, as if his mother had often recurred to it in after 
 years. In a few places it is difficult to decipher. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 To Mrs. Evelyn (his Mother), Trim, Ireland. 
 
 JVew York Island, Sept, 2^th, 1776. 
 
 "My dear Madam, — If you have not received a letter 
 which I wrote to you the beginning of August, by a ship 
 bound to Cork, you will be at a loss to account for my 
 being so long silent. In that letter I requested you would 
 draw upon our agents (Adair and Bullock) in London for 
 £^0 sterling, which I have in their hands, and which 
 I have not any immediate occasion for. If you have not 
 al[ready] re[ceived] it, I must beg that you will, and not 
 deny me this mark of your confidence in my disposition 
 to afford you every assistance in my power. I only wish 
 
 " Mrs. Leveson's younger sister Elizabeth was married to Henry, 
 fifth Duke of Beaufort, and resided at Badminton House, Glouces- 
 tershire. 
 
Capt. W. G. .Evelyn. 89 
 
 I could supply all your wants with that liberality you 
 have ever shewn towards me, and in some degree make 
 lighter your weight of affliction ', which is almost too 
 heavy for you to bear. What I can do to alleviate 
 it shall never be wanting, and your own piety and virtue 
 will support you under it with fortitude and resignation. 
 Since my last letter to you, we have had an action with 
 the rebels, in which we totally defeated them, with great 
 loss on their parts and very little on ours, and drove them 
 entirely off Long Island. The part of the army in which 
 I am was chiefly engaged. I was lucky enough to come 
 off unhurt, but had six of my men killed and wounded. 
 Those who escaped of the rebels retired to New York. 
 On the 15th of this month, we attacked that island in our 
 boats ; and notwithstanding they expected our coming, 
 we landed under cover of the men-of-war, without losing 
 a man, drove the rebels in great confusion to the further 
 end of the island, and now keep possession of York and 
 the country seven miles from it. A few nights after we 
 took it, some villains, wh[o lurked] in town for that pur- 
 pose, set it on fire in several places, by which about 
 one-third of it was consumed^. I am a good deal at 
 
 ■' Alluding to the death of his father, the Very Rev. Dean of Emley, 
 which event took place March 28, 1776, at Dublin, about six months 
 before the date of this letter. 
 
 ^ See Note to Letter XV. " In the lately-published ' Campaign of 
 1776 around New York and Brooklyn,' by Henry P. Johnston (3rd 
 vol. of Long Island Historical Society's Memoirs), the following ac- 
 count is given of the capture of an American patroling party of five 
 ofScers, on the morning of the 27th of August, 1776, the day of the 
 battle of Long Island : ' Captain William Evelyn, " a gallant officer " 
 of the 4th Infantry, or King's Own, and a descendant of the eminent 
 John Evelyn, of England, led the British advance this night ; and 
 it fell to his fortune to surround and capture all five American officers, 
 and send them immediately to Clinton, who commanded the leading 
 
90 Letters of 
 
 a loss how to direct to you, but shall send it, as the last, 
 to Mr. Reynolds, at Trim. My best love to my aunt. 
 Be assured I shall omit no opportunity of writing to you, 
 and of proving how truly 
 
 " I am, my dear Madam, 
 
 " Your dutiful and affectionate son, 
 
 " W. G. Evelyn." 
 
 Copy of the Will of Captain William Glanville 
 Evelyn. 
 
 " Boston June 17"* 1775. 
 
 " As all Men who have taken upon them the profession 
 of Arms, hold their Lives by a more precarious tenure than 
 any other Body of People ; and as the fatal experience 
 of this Day shews us how particularly it is the case of 
 those who are engaged in war, even with the most despi- 
 cable Enemy, I think it the Duty of every Man who cares 
 a farthing about the disposal of His affairs, to declare in 
 what manner He wishes to have them disposed of: and 
 tho' all my Worldly Substance is worth very little, yet 
 it is my desire that Peggie Wright y shall inherit every- 
 
 column.' The authority for this statement is a letter from the Honble. 
 Mrs. Boscawen to Mrs. Delany, in the Autobiography of the latter, 
 dated Oct. 17, 1776, which reads : 'We have had a letter from Cap- 
 tain Evelyn, from the field of battle ; he was in y' brigade of light 
 infantry, and took 5 officers prisoners, who were sent to observe our 
 motions.' Mr. Johnston attributes the overwhelming defeat of our 
 army at Long Island to the capture of this party, to whom Putnam 
 and Sullivan looked for information of the advance of the British 
 through Jamaica Pass. Captain Evelyn was mortally wounded at the 
 skirmish at Throg's Neck, on the i8th of October, 1776."— From the 
 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, No. viii. p. 473. 
 
 >" Peggie Wright was a servant in the family of Dr. William Evelyn, 
 between whom and Captain Evelyn an attachment had sprung up, 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 91 
 
 thing I leave behind me ; paying out of what may arise 
 from the sale of such things, as she may choose to sell, 
 & little Debts I may owe in this country, such as Higgs's 
 money, and a trifle to Mr. Forrest for Linnen, and some- 
 thing we owe Him, Beef, & Potatoes & five Bushels of Oats. 
 I desire her also to pay my servant Sturgess, two Guineas, 
 which Legacy should have been more proportioned to what 
 I owe him for his attachment & fidelity to me, but that 
 what I give to Him, I must take from her. If he should 
 be in my debt upon the Books I desire He may be forgiven. 
 
 "The same cause prevents me from taking Notice of 
 some of my Friends in the Regiment for whom I have 
 a very sincere Esteem. I have further to desire, that 
 if my Books should be sold, the three vol^. of Hudi- 
 brass in French and English, the Legacy of my amiable 
 and unfortunate Friend Joe Knight, may be reserved and 
 by some means transmitted to my Father. Whatever 
 Debts I may owe in England or Ireland are very trifling,- 
 only to Taylors Sz: Shoemakers, and these I hope my 
 Father will be so good as to discharge, which will be no 
 great addition to the little expence I have ever put 
 him to. 
 
 " I am unacquainted with the form of Wills, but this 
 I mean to be my last will & Testament, having never 
 made any other, and I request that Captain Balfour, 
 Cap*. Cochrane, Mr. Champagnd or any of them, will be 
 kind enough to see the intention of it executed. Given 
 
 whilst he was at home on half-pay. She followed him to Boston ; 
 and when the British evacuated that city, she went with Captain 
 Evelyn to Halifax, and remained there after his departure for New 
 York. She was, in all probability, summoned to his bed-side after 
 he was wounded, on the l8th of Oct., 1776, to remain until his 
 death on Nov. 6th. 
 
92 Letters of 
 
 under & written with my own Hand, at Boston Camp 
 this 17th day of June 1775. 
 
 " {Signed) W. G. Evelyn, 
 
 Memorandums. 
 
 " Staten Island Aug\ 20"* 1776. 
 
 "Upon my going to Carolina in January last I left 
 a paper with Peggie Wright in Boston purporting that 
 in case of my Death it was my desire she should become 
 possessed of whatever property or Effects I might have 
 in America. As she is now in Halifax, I think it neces- 
 sary to leave a Memorandum with the Regiment to the 
 same effect, but more Explicit. 
 
 "The 24* December last I had a Ballance in the 
 Agents' hands of Forty pounds, some shillings, exclusive 
 of my arrears and division of Non Effective Fund. I have 
 in a Letter authorized my Mother to draw on the Agents 
 for the Forty pounds, but am not certain if she will 
 do it. My pay, arrears &c. from that time to this is in 
 the hands of the Agents. 
 
 " From the Pay Master of the Regiment, I have drawn 
 on account of my Company, up to the 24* April last 
 about Four hundred Dollars or £(^1 „ 6 „ 8 which by 
 a rough calculation is near their Subsistance to that time, 
 leaving as much in his hands, as we supposed would 
 amount to their Provision Money. There is now in his 
 hands upwards of Four months' pay of my -Company, be- 
 sides Augmentation Money and the Bounty of Eight 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn, 93 
 
 Drafts, and one Recruit (Richardson) whom I enlisted. 
 He, not having paid anything, upon my account that 
 I know of, except Nine or Ten Pounds to M^ Fish. 
 
 " In a trunk on board of the ' Sovereign,' Victualler 
 (where most of my Baggage is), I have left in Gold, Ten 
 half Johannes, in Silver One hundred and Forty-six Dol- 
 lars & four Crown pieces. The accounts of my Company 
 are settled up to the 24''' of June, since which settle- 
 ment they have received a good deal of Money & ne- 
 cessarys from me which are not charged, there is how- 
 ever a Considerable Ball<=« due to them, but far short 
 of what I have a demand upon the Paymaster for. Of the 
 Money in my Trunk Twenty Pounds Sterling is due to 
 Capt''. Tallemacke, of the 'Scorpion,' or his Agent Mr. 
 M^Knight, for a Puncheon of Rum which I've had no 
 opportunity of paying for, since I received the money, 
 I am also indebted to Cap*. Drummond for two pieces 
 of Osnaburgh. I recollect nothing else. 
 
 " The foregoing being a General Sketch of the State of 
 my affairs, it is my wish that in Case of my Death, my 
 Baggage (of which there is a considerable heap, such as 
 it is) & Effects may be sold, and the money arising 
 therefrom as well as all debts and Balances due to me 
 may be paid to the above mentioned Peggie Wright, 
 excepting only Five Guineas which I desire may be paid 
 to my Servant Sturgess, over & above what wages I 
 may owe him, as a small but grateful! acknowledgement 
 for his fidelity. I also desire that he may have all my 
 silver Shoe and Knee Buckles & my Stock Buckles, and 
 I would wish to recommend him to some good Master 
 as Gov"^. Martin or Lord Rawdon, who might be 
 better able to reward his services. Whatever money of 
 mine may be in the Agents hands, it's my desire that 
 
94 Letters of 
 
 it may be paid to my Mother, thro' the hands of 
 Mrs. Boscawen or Mrs. Leveson Gower, first paying out 
 of it Nine pounds one shilling to M"". Busher, which I 
 owe him for Cloth, and is the only Debt I can think of, 
 which comes within my ability to pay. In case my 
 Mother should not be alive, or through any other Cause 
 should not receive this Money, I desire it may be paid 
 to the above mentioned Peggie Wright. I would wil- 
 lingly give some of my acquaintances tokens of the very 
 sincere regard & esteem, I have for them, but if I left 
 them anything I must take so much from her. I only 
 beg that my amiable Friend Captain Knight will accept 
 of the Ring left me by his incomparable and dearly be- 
 loved Brother. Given under my Hand at Staten Island, 
 August 20"^, 1776. 
 
 ''{Signed) W. G. Evelyn, 
 
 " Cap'^. 4"' Regtr 
 
 " I, Joseph Galloway Esquire, Superintendent General of 
 the City of Philadelphia and its Environs, do hereby Certifie 
 unto all, whom it may concern. That the foregoing Pages 
 Numbered l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, contain true and exact Copies 
 of the Probate taken by and before John Potts Esquire, 
 of the last Will and Codicil of William Glanville Evelyn, 
 my Certificate respecting the Right and Power of the said 
 John Pott's Esquire, to take such Probate before him 
 and of the said last Will and Testament and Codicil or 
 addition to such last Will, which said several Copies I 
 have carefully examined and compared with the respec- 
 tive Originals. Given under my Hand at Philadelphia, 
 this Eighth Day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1778. 
 
 "J. Galloway, 
 " Superintendent General." 
 
Capt. W. G. Evelyn. 95 
 
 The foregoing Will of Captain Evelyn's is a careful 
 transcript of a certified copy, which has been preserved 
 through all the changes of time since the Revolution, 
 and was originally destined to be placed in the hands 
 of the Evelyn family in Ireland. It never, however, 
 reached their hands, and its existence was entirely un- 
 known to the family in England, until it was found in the 
 valuable collection of Mr. T. Baily Myers, of New York, 
 who has generously placed a copy of it at my disposal, 
 for which kind courtesy, I desire to express my thanks. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that the Probate men- 
 tioned above by Mr. J. Galloway, of Philadelphia, has 
 been detached from the above Will, and lost. 
 
 The following Letter of young Ensign Evelyn, is the 
 only one that has been preserved, , which was written 
 during the seven years' war in Germany. He was at 
 that time about nineteen years of age. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. Evelyn (his Father), at his House in 
 White Friars-street, Dublin. 
 
 " Camp at House, Hanover, July 17, 1761. 
 
 "Dear Sir. — I received your letter about a fortnight 
 ago, since which time I have not had the least oppor- 
 tunity of writing. We were then on the march. I have 
 continued moving ever since. We have just this mo- 
 ment returned from singing Te Demn for a victory ob- 
 tained over the French yesterday, the particulars of which 
 I do not know, but shall refer you to the newspapers ; 
 all I know is, that Lord Grantley's corps, consisting of 
 the British Grenadiers^ two battalions of Highlanders, 
 
96 Letters of 
 
 and four regiments of Infantry, cannonaded them on 
 the left from four in the morning till about twelve. 
 While the hereditary Prince with his corps engaged them 
 on the right, the other two brigades of British, of which 
 ours is one, were in the centre, and were ordered to 
 line the hedges, which we did, but the French being 
 beat back, we lay very quiet and did not fire a shot. 
 In the morning we marched back, and encamped on 
 the ground we left the night before. The Grenadiers have 
 taken fifteen pieces of cannon, one of them i6 pounds, 
 and four 4-pounders. We have not yet heard how many 
 men are taken or killed on either side. In your letter 
 you are pleased to give me a great deal of merit to 
 which I have not the least title, as my preferment was 
 in turn, and merely owing to my good luck, and not 
 to any particular merit of mine. I enquired for Mr. 
 Conolly ; he came over to this country a volunteer. He 
 was never attached to any particular regiment, some- 
 times with a regiment of Infantry, sometimes with the 
 Artillery. At length, one night in the city of Osnaburg, 
 being in company with some Bombardiers of the Ar- 
 tillery, he was murdered. This is the account I have 
 heard of him, from an officer who knew him. I shall leave 
 it to your better judgment to disclose it to his mother. 
 
 " The post is going out, and I have not time to write 
 as much as I could wish, but I shall be much obliged 
 to you if you'll send me a little money, and the sooner 
 the better, as I am really tired of walking all the cam- 
 paign, which as yet has been very severe. By writing 
 to our agent, Mr. Richardson, in Downing-street, West- 
 minster, he will remit any sum you please to send. Our 
 paymaster has offered to give me any money I should 
 want, but I did not choose to take up any without being 
 
Capt. W, G. Evelyn. 97 
 
 certain of having it in my power to pay him again. 
 Besides, I think myself too much in debt already, as 
 I have two commissions to pay for, an ensigncy and 
 lieutenancy. My first ensigncy I have paid for, but on 
 the death of his late majesty, we all got new commis- 
 sions, which I have to pay for, besides my lieutenancy, 
 which will come to between nine and ten pounds. 
 
 "The man waits for my letter. I beg my respects to 
 all friends, my duty to my Mother, and love to John ^ 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your affectionate Son, 
 
 "Wm. Glanville Evelyn." 
 
 With the tender and touching letter of September 25, 
 1776, to his mother, the correspondence ended by the pre- 
 mature death of the writer, who, it may be observed, is 
 not the only member of the family of Evelyn whose for- 
 tunes have been connected with America. Very early in 
 the colonization of the country, Robert Evelyn, the great, 
 great-grand-uncle of Captain Evelyn, embarked about 
 the year 1609 for Virginia, upon a voyage of adventure, 
 and was followed by his youngest son, Robert, the author 
 of the " Letters, &c.," who eventually died in the West 
 Indies. George, supposed to be the elder brother of 
 Robert the younger, is also found in the year 1637 in 
 Maryland, assisting his friend Leonard Calvert, the Go- 
 vernor, in the administration of the colony. More re- 
 cently, William Evelyn, an officer in the British Army, 
 and an uncle of the present possessor of Wotton, lost his 
 life by shipwreck on the island of Cape Breton, Canada, 
 ^2nd of October, 1805. 
 
 » " John " was his younger brother, the grandfather of the present 
 head of the Evelyn family, at Wotton, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 COLONEL CLEAVELAND \ of the Royal Artillery, 
 had a local rank of Brigadier. He and Col. Pattison 
 were in command of the artillery in Boston. The ist, 3rd, 
 and 4th battalions of the artillery were engaged at Bun- 
 ker's Hill. When the British troops, under Lieut.-Col. 
 Smith, commenced retiring from Concord on Lexington, 
 they were met by a reinforcement under Lord Percy, 
 accompanied by two field-guns. This was the first ap- 
 pearance of the Royal Artillery in the war. Under the 
 fire of the guns, the troops were able to continue their 
 retreat comparatively unmolested ; but before they reached 
 Boston, they had sustained a loss of no less than 273 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners. Effective as the fire of 
 the English guns was, complaints were made, probably 
 in self-defence, by the commanding officer of the troops, 
 that the artillery were inadequately supplied with ammu- 
 .nition on the occasion. A strong remonstrance was im- 
 mediately addressed by Col. Cleaveland to the Master 
 General of the Ordnance, stating the true facts : — 
 
 " I find it has been said in England, that ammunition 
 was wanting for the two guns which went with the brigade 
 to Lexington, — that they had only 24 rounds per gun. 
 I had a wagon with 140 rounds on the parade, and Lord 
 Percy refused to take it, saying it might retard their 
 march, and that he did not imagine there would be any 
 occasion for more than there was on the side-boxes." 
 
 " " Col. Cleaveland of the Artillery," p. 35. 
 
Appendix, 99 
 
 In the batteries on Copp's Hill, and with the guns 
 actually on the field, five companies of the 4th battalion 
 of Royal Artillery were present (Bunker's Hill), viz., 
 Nos. I, 2, 4, 5, and 8. 
 
 Eight field-pieces were actually in action, but twelvd 
 accompanied the attacking force: four light 12 -pounders, 
 four 5-^-inch howitzers, and four light 6-pounders. The 
 attack was made under the fire of the guns. " The troops 
 advancing slowly, and halting at intervals, to give time 
 for the artillery to produce some eSezf^^Gejieral Sted- 
 man's jFournal). "During the engagement (writes Sted- 
 man) a supply of ball for the artillery, sent from the 
 Ordnance department in Boston, was found to be of larger 
 dimensions than fitted the calibres of the field-pieces that 
 accompanied the detachment ; an oversight which pre- 
 vented the use of the artillery." 
 
 In opposition to this statement. Colonel Cleaveland's 
 teport to the Master General may be quoted : " At 
 Bunker's Hill, I sent 66 rounds to each gun, and not 
 more than half was fired." — (From MSS. in the Royal 
 Artillery Record Office). "Had the reason been that 
 given by Stedman, Colonel Cleaveland was too truthful 
 a man to omit mentioning it. The battle of Bunker's 
 Hill was the ' Inkermann of the American War.' The 
 British loss was 1,054 killed and wounded. The loss of 
 the artillery was small ; some 9 or 10 wounded, officers 
 included, and none killed, according to the battalion 
 records. At the battle of Brandywine, Col. Cleaveland 
 distinguished himself, and was duly noticed in a dispatch 
 of Sir William Howe's to Lord George Germaine : ' Much 
 credit is due to Brigadier-General Cleaveland, and to the 
 officers and men of the corps of artillery.' While in 
 Philadelphia, Col. Cleaveland was superseded by Col. Pat- 
 
I GO Appendix, 
 
 tison, who commanded the artillery when the British took 
 possession of the Fort of Red Bank. General Pattison 
 was afterwards commandant of the city of New York." 
 
 The above account has been condensed from the " His- 
 tory of the Royal Artillery," by Major Duncan, R.A. 
 
 Brigadier-General Richard Prescott ^ the command- 
 ing-officer of the British troops at Newport, Rhode Island, 
 had made himself especially odious to the . inhabitants 
 by many acts of petty tyranny and oppression. At last 
 a plan was concocted, and successfully carried out by 
 Lieut.-Col. Barton, of Providence, of capturing him, and 
 carrying him into the American lines on the night of the 
 loth of July, 1777. Full particulars of this well-contrived 
 and daring enterprise will be found in Lossing's "Field 
 Book of the Revolution," vol. ii. pp. 75, 'j6. Two popular 
 ballads were also made upon this successful exploit, which 
 are preserved in Duyckinck's " Cyclopaedia of American. 
 Literature," vol. i. pp. 451, 452. 
 
 Extracts from Journals of Congress. 
 
 " Resolved, That General Prescott be committed to, and 
 kept in close confinement in, the jail of Philadelphia, till 
 further orders from Congress. 
 
 " N.B. — This was occasioned by the cruel and inhuman 
 treatment of Col. Ethan Allen, and the prisoners taken 
 with him near Montreal, by loading them with heavy 
 irons, and, in the most severe weather, keeping them 
 almost naked, and without anything to lie on but bare 
 
 '' " My old friend Col. Prescott," p. 34. T 
 
Brigadier General Richard Prescott. 
 
Appendix, tot 
 
 boards, which treatment was continued all the time that 
 they were confined in Pendennis Castle in England. 
 
 "January so. Resolved, That Dr. Cadwallader and 
 Dr. Shippen, jun., be desired to inspect the room of the 
 jail where General Prescott is confined, and inquire into 
 the state of his health, and report thereon to Congress. 
 
 "February 13. Resolved, That Captain Gordon, upon 
 giving his parole, be permitted, while he remains in town, 
 to visit General Prescott at proper seasons. 
 
 "April 9. That Brigadier-General Prescott, upon sub- 
 scribing the parole ordered, be enlarged from his present 
 confinement." 
 
 Extract from a Letter from the "■London 
 Chronicle" 
 
 "January 14 — 16, 1777. 
 "An officer who was taken prisoner by the Americans 
 at St. John's, is lately arrived in England. He was a pri-. 
 soner in Philadelphia with General Prescott and several; 
 other officers, and says that, as a party of them were one^ 
 day dining with General Prescott, -a Provincial Captain 
 with thirty soldiers came into the room, and said he was- 
 ordered by the Congress to carry General Prescott imme- 
 diately to the common jail. The General, with the 
 greatest composure, submitted to his fate. The room 
 in which they lodged him was cold and damp, bare walls, 
 no fireplace, the furniture nothing but a chair and a 
 truckle-bed. From the unwholesomeness of this situa- 
 tion and other hardships, the wounds he had received, 
 in former services broke out afresh, and reduced him 
 to so low a state, that his death seemed inevitable. Major 
 Preston who was also a prisoner, went to Hancock, the 
 
102 Appendix, 
 
 President of the Congress, and told him, that'if they were 
 determined to sacrifice his brother-officer to their resent- 
 ment, it would be. an act of humanity to dispatch him 
 immediately, and not suffer him to linger in misery. 
 Upon this representation. Dr. Cadwallader " was sent to , 
 visit him, who, by his humane account of the General's' 
 case, and other kind offices, obtained leave for his re- 
 pioval to his former lodgings in the town, with sentinels 
 to guard him. This severe treatment, the Congress de- 
 clared, was intended as a retaliation for the imprisonment 
 of Ethan Allen, which, though really done by General 
 Carleton's orders, they ascribed to General Prescott, who 
 might have obtained a much more speedy release, by 
 declaring that the orders came from his superior officer ; 
 but at that juncture Montgomery was carrying on the 
 siege of Quebec, and General Carleton seemed in danger 
 of falling into the hands of Congress ; therefore General 
 Prescott, though formally interrogated by deputies frpm 
 the Congress on the subject, resolutely suffered them 
 to continue under the mistake, till Montgomery was^ 
 defeated and Quebec secure. The above particulars were' 
 related by an officer, who was at dinner with the General 
 when he was taken into custody," 
 
 General Prescott was exchanged in April, 1778, for 
 General Charles Lee. 
 
 The capture of General Lee by Lieut.-Col, WlLLiAM- 
 
 ' Extract from a Letter in the "New York Gazette," Nov. 25, 1776: — 
 " When Mr. Cadwallader, a young officer in the service of the rebels, 
 was dismissed the other day by the General's orders, on account 
 of his father's civil treatment of General Prescott while a prisoner, he 
 burst into tears upon the instances of generosity shewn him, and dis- 
 covered such sensibility on the occasion, as did him honour as a man 
 and a gentleman. 'Tis to be regretted that such a man could be ia 
 rebellion against his king and the; constitution of his country." 
 
.Appendix, 103 
 
 .Harcourt^ (on Dec. 13, 1776) was a great event at the 
 time, as the former was looked upon by many aS second 
 only to Washington, and called the " Palladium of Ameri^ 
 can liberty." Col. Harcourt was the son of Earl Har- 
 -court, Dord Lieutenant of Ireland. A family connection 
 .existed between the Harcourts and the Evelyns of Wotton, 
 -Surrey ; Elizabeth, the grand-daughter of John Evelyn 
 -(Author of "Sylva"), having in 1705 married the Hon, 
 Simon Harcourt, son of Lord Chancellor Harcourt. 
 Their daughter, Martha, was the sister of Simon, Earl 
 .Harcourt, and great-grandmother of Col. E. W. Harcourt, 
 M.P., of Nuneham Park, the present head of the family. 
 The Rev. William Evelyn, Vicar of Trim, Ireland, was 
 private chaplain to Earl Harcourt, who, in 1775, had also 
 made him Dean of Emley and Chancellor of Dromore, 
 both ecclesiastical appointments in his gift. 
 
 It is stated that Col. Harcourt, before he left England, 
 expressed hopes that he should take General Lee. He 
 
 ^ From the appearance of the following extract in the " New 
 York Gazette," of Jan. i6, 1777, it would seem that it was sus- 
 pected at the time that Lee had been treacherously betrayed ; but 
 it is now believed that the English account given above (which sub- 
 stantially agrees with Bancroft and Lossing) is the correct version 
 of the way in which Lee's place of retreat was discovered by Col. 
 Harcourt. 
 
 The "New York Gazette" of July 16, 1777, contains an account 
 of the taking of General Lee, as published by order of Congress, the 
 principal passages of which have been already mentioned, to which 
 the following is added : — " Intelligence of General Lee's unguarded 
 situation was given to the enemy the day before by an inhabitant 
 of Baskenridge, personally known to the General, and who, under 
 great professions of friendship for the American cause, was at heart 
 the greatest deceiver that ever existed. This Judas rode all the pre- 
 ceding night to carry the intelligence, and served as a pilot to con- 
 duct the enemy, and came personally with them to the house where 
 the General was taken." 
 
rio4 .Appendix. 
 
 ■ arrived in New York in the first week in October, 1776^, 
 in the "Lapwing," which had several transports under 
 convoy, having on board the 17th Regiment of Light 
 Horse under his command. 
 
 Col. Harcourt (Dec. 13, 1776) was out on a recon- 
 jioitring expedition with about thirty Light Dragoons. 
 He had passed the picket of the Provincials, of one hun- 
 dred men, who did not turn out, supposing a larger body 
 of the British troops near. He soon observed a man on 
 foot going with great expedition, whom he imagined to 
 be a spy, and had him secured. On searching him, a 
 letter was found, the wafer not dry, directed to General 
 Washington from General Lee. The man was informed 
 if he did not immediately conduct them to the house 
 where the gentleman was who gave him the letter, im- 
 mediate death would be his lot. He complied, the house 
 (which was about three miles from the Provincial army) 
 was surrounded, and General Lee on hearing the firings 
 ran to the door with two French officers, one of whom, 
 having exclaimed, "we are taken," raised his fusee to 
 take aim at Col. Harcourt, which he observing, stooped 
 his head, and the shot carried away the ribbon of his 
 hair, wounding him slightly. The Frenchman was dis- 
 patched by the Dragoons. An officer, in a letter dated 
 from New York, Dec. 21, 1776, states, that when Col. Har- 
 court approached the house ^ with his men, " they received 
 
 ' About a month before the death of Capt. Evelyn, who was 
 wounded Oct. 18, 1776, and carried to New York, where he died, 
 Nov. 6, 1776. 
 
 ' This statement differs from that of General James Wilkinson, 
 who was in the house at the time. In his memoir, he says, that 
 as the morning was cold, the guard had left their arms for a few 
 moments, and were sunning themselves a little distance away. Col. 
 Harcourt wrote to his father, that he captured. Lee without the loss, 
 of a single man, and after some fire, retreated by another road. 
 
GeneralCharles Lee. 
 
Appendix. -105 
 
 a fire from a guard that was in an outhouse, the two 
 sentinels were killed, with several others (one account 
 says seven or eight), without any loss on our side." Lee's 
 behaviour was dastardly to the last. He got up into 
 a corner, delivered his sword, and said he hoped his life 
 was safe b, and that it was terrible to be thus taken, when 
 he had so many glorious schemes in hand. Col. Har- 
 court told him he would be well used. " By you, I may 
 say (says Lee), but what am I to expect from the Howes ? " 
 General Lee was seized and led to the door, bareheaded ; 
 when he asked much to be allowed to go upstairs for 
 his hat, but Col. Harcourt replied, " No, Mr. Lee, you 
 can take a ride for once without your hat!" He was 
 bound upon the horse of a guide, both legs and arms 
 being well pinioned, and galloped off with such speed, 
 that they went twenty miles in an hour and a quarter. 
 " Only four minutes (Bancroft says) had elapsed, from the 
 time of this surrounding of the house, before they started 
 off on their return." Lee did not complain to the Colonel, 
 but told him, for several miles he was not yet sure of 
 his prey : but finding no rescue, which he expected as 
 they passed almost through his out-parties, his spirits 
 failed him, and he became sullen. For the first twenty- 
 four hours he was defiant and (as English accounts 
 say) insolent, and complained bitterly to Gen. Howe of 
 the bad usage he met with. Gen. Howe replied by a 
 card, which was addressed to him as Col. Lee, the rank 
 which he held in the English army before his defection. 
 
 B " I do not know what lengths people may be disposed to proceed 
 to on your side of the Atlantic ; but in my own opinion, his life; 
 (Lee's), about which he is at least as anxious as one could imagine 
 him, is effectually secured by the threats of retaliation.'' 
 
 Extract from a letter from Col. Harcourt, to his brother Lord Nune- 
 ham, dated i8th of March, 1777, from JBrungwick,, 
 
io6 Appendix. 
 
 He seemed much depressed after the receipt of this card \ 
 He was taken eventually to Brunswick, and placed under 
 a Captain's guard with two subalterns. He sent to Gen. 
 Grant for money, but was refused, on the plea that he 
 did not lack necessaries. He was very meanly dressed, 
 and sent for a tailor to mend his clothes, . " but not a 
 man in the regiment," one of its officers writes, "would 
 work for so great a rascal (as the gentlemen tailors called 
 him)." The other Frenchman (Gayault), who had been 
 with Lee only two days, as his aide-de-camp, and who, 
 in endeavouring to escape into the woods, was captured, 
 was to be one of their Colonels, but he had not yet re- 
 ceived his commission. Col. Harcourt met a Yorkshire- 
 man who was acquainted with the country, and had him 
 for a guide. He ordered the Frenchman to get up behind 
 him, but he being not so alert as the Yorkshireman 
 wished, he struck him on the head with his pistol, which 
 so offended him, that he has not been in temper since ; 
 the indignity of being struck by a peasant is too mor- 
 tifying for him, yet this fellow in his own country had 
 not the rank of a gentleman. Another account states 
 that Monsieur Gayault had been a Colonel in France. 
 An English officer who had been acquainted with Gayault, 
 
 ■■ The letter purporting to have been written by General Lee a few 
 days after his capture, referred to by Mr. Bancroft, in vol. ix. p. 211, 
 of his History of the U.S., had considerable publicity given to it in 
 England. It appeared (amongst other papers) in the London " Morn- 
 ing Post and Daily Advertiser" of Feb. 19, 1777, but in the next 
 issue was inserted the following : — " The letter laid before the publick 
 
 as if written by General Lee to Capt. K y is suspected to be 
 
 an imposition, as by comparing it with a speech attributed to Carac- 
 tacus when before Claudius, may more evidently appear.'' Two more 
 letters were also published in the Dublin " Freeman's Journal " of the 
 year 1777, as written by General Lee, both shewing very unmistake- 
 ably that they were fabrications. 
 
Appendix. 107 
 
 says in a letter, " I saw Mr. Gayault, the Frenchman who 
 was taken prisoner with Gen. Lee, at Brunswick, on his 
 arrival with him. I provided him with quarters, where 
 he was taken good care of, and supplied him with ne- 
 cessaries, and he was at Hberty to walk about. Mr. 
 Gayault informed me, that he was only two days with 
 Gen. Lee, as aide-de-camp. That when he heard the 
 firing of the Light Dragoons, he ran out hastily, and was 
 taken prisoner." 
 
 When Gen. Lee was brought into the British camp, 
 " he demanded to be received under the proclamation ; 
 but on being refused the benefit thereof, and told that 
 he would be tried as a deserter*, he flew into a most 
 unbounded rage, and exclaimed against the repeated acts 
 of false faith and treachery which had reduced him to 
 his present situation." 
 
 A letter from New York to the writer's friend in Ireland, 
 dated January 2, 1777, says: — "Yesterday, Gen. Lee and 
 Col. Robert Livingstone were brought to town from the 
 Jerseys, and confined in the old city hall. They were 
 taken in the house of Captain Richards, (Bancroft and 
 Lossing say at Mrs. White's inn at Baskingridge), about 
 a mile from Trenton. I went this morning to the city 
 hall to see my relation, poor Livingstone, but it made 
 my heart ache to see him weep and lament. He said 
 he would have made his peace agreeable to the com- 
 missioners' proclamation some time ago, but Gen. Lee 
 
 • Extract from a letter from New York, in the London " Morning 
 Post" of March 5, 1777 : — "Orders are gone for his trial (Lee's) by- 
 court-martial, of which General Matthews is to be president, for 
 desertion. From which accusation, however, it is generally thought 
 he will be acquitted ; in which case he will be sent home, to be tried 
 after the war is over, from which he will have very little hope of 
 escape.'' 
 
io8 Appendix. 
 
 advised him to keep his hands clear of it, as it was 
 only a trap to kidnap people." A paragraph in a news- 
 paper of that period says, " that it is said that General 
 Lee brooks his confinement very ill, and frequently be- 
 haves as if he was not in his perfect mind." Another 
 account states that on the 20th of April, 1777, — "I find 
 that General Lee is confined in a very decent room in 
 the guard - house, contiguous to which is a small room 
 in which he sleeps ; is accompanied by the officers that 
 are on guard over him, with whom he freely converses, 
 but never on the subject of the disputes with the Colonies. 
 He is allowed all necessaries that are requisite, and 
 amongst others, a bottle of wine per diem. He is very 
 careless in his apparel, and generally wears a brown short 
 coat, or rather jacket." It was currently reported then that 
 a "Lieutenant-General'^ (second in command to Lee), his 
 aide-de-camp, an engineer and two sergeants, all French- 
 men, who were taken at the same time with Lee, were 
 prisoners (Feb. 1777), on board the 'Inflexible' man-of- 
 war, at the Nore." 
 
 After the capture of Lee, General Washington sent 
 a formal message to General Howe demanding General 
 Lee, and according to the terms of the cartel, offering 
 Col. Campbell and three other Colonels (prisoners) for 
 him. General Howe refused to exchange General Lee 
 upon any terms, upon which General Washington or- 
 dered the four Colonels to be sent to prison. 
 
 Col. Harcourt having applied for leave of absence to 
 return to England, it was intended that General Lee 
 should have been taken over with him, if the current 
 rumour is to be beheved ; and it is stated that he was 
 
 "' Col. Harcourt says he was a French Lieutenant- Colonel. 
 
Simon Earl Harcourt. 
 
 FATHER OF LIEUT COLON EL Wl LLI AM HARCOURT, 
 AFTERWARDS FIELD MARSHALL EARL HARCOURT. 
 
Appendix. 109 
 
 put upon board a vessel three several times in New 
 York, in order to be brought to England, and the ship 
 was absolutely (so the story runs) under sail, when Wash- 
 ington's second letter to General Howe arrived in New 
 York, offering to exchange General Prescott for General 
 Lee. His exchange was finally effected, and General 
 Lee was released. 
 
 The capture of General Lee, when it was known in 
 England, raised great hopes there of an early termina- 
 tion of the war. There was great rejoicing throughout 
 the country', by those who sided with the Ministerial 
 views of the necessity of coercion. " Upon Earl Har- 
 ■court's going to the King's levee (March i, 1777), after 
 -the news of General Lee's being taken, the King came 
 eagerly up to him, — ' Oh 1 my lord, your son has behaved 
 with the utmost gallantry ; it gives me the utmost plea- 
 sure, and I doubt not it does the same to you,' which 
 pleased his lordship not a little. His Majesty added, 
 'I shall take care of Colonel Harcourt; leave his fortune 
 to me.' " 
 
 Earl Harcourt resigned his post in Ireland early in 
 
 ' An example is here selected out of many others, to illustrate the 
 manner by which, in one little village, it was proposed that the popular 
 joy should be evinced. 
 
 The following advertisement was stuck in the market-place at 
 Tring, in Hertfordshire, on Friday last : — 
 
 "Feb. 13, 1777. 
 
 " This is to give Notis that Thursday next will be helld as a day of 
 regoicin in commemoration of the takin of General Lee, when their 
 wil be a sermint preached, and other public demonstrascions of joye, 
 after which will bee an nox roasted whole & everery mark of fes- 
 tivety & bell ringing imagenable, whith a ball & cock fiting at night 
 in the hassembly room at the black Lyone. 
 
 "James Clinch, 
 
 ^^ Parish Clerk and Cryer" 
 
no Appendix. 
 
 1777, and retired to his seat at Nuneham Park. He 
 was accidently drowned by falling into a well in his 
 own park"". 
 
 On more than one occasion during the war in America, 
 Colonel Harcourt was indebted to the thoroughbred horse 
 he rode for the preservation of his life. Once during 
 the operations around Trenton, he was out on a scouting 
 party, and suddenly came upon a strong force of Pro- 
 vincials. He put his horse at a high fence, but not being 
 able to quite clear it, would have tumbled, had not the 
 top rail, being a little decayed, given way, and let them 
 over. A long distance was soon placed between the 
 pursuers and the pursued, for Col. Harcourt's horse was 
 remarkably fleet. This horse, it is said, lived to the ex- 
 traordinary age of fifty years". The late Mr. G. P. R. 
 
 ■" Sept. 16, 1777 ; "This day, at his seat at Nuneham, Oxfordshire, 
 the body of Earl Harcourt was found dead in a narrow well in his 
 park, with the head downwards, and nothing appearing above water 
 but the feet and legs. It is imagined this melancholy accident was 
 occasioned by his over-reaching himself in endeavouring to save the 
 life of a favorite dog, who was found in the well with him, standing 
 on his Lordship's feet. His hat and right-hand glove lay -beside the 
 well. Every possible method for the recovery of drowned persons 
 was made use of for three several times, but unfortunately without 
 effect." 
 
 " In a letter from Col. Harcourt to his father, dated i8th of June, 
 1777, from Brunswick, he says : — "Your little bay, high-mettled and 
 shy as he is, at other times is perfectly quiet in fire, and is stout 
 to a degree. The day I took General Lee, we marched near seventy 
 miles, and he seemed as fresh the last moment as when I first 
 mounted him." In a previous letter to his father, Earl Harcourt, 
 
 he writes, May 31, 1777, — " I send you enclosed a copy of 's 
 
 approbation of my conduct upon the occasion of my making General 
 Lee a prisoner. Had I not lived quite so long about a Court, my 
 vanity might have been gratified with the praises which have been 
 lavished upon me ; but when I recollect that the most eminent ser- 
 vices of others have passed unrewarded, I cannot form great ex- 
 
Appendix. i i i 
 
 James, the novelist, who resided in Richmond, Virginia, 
 as British Consul for several years, told a friend of Mr. 
 B. J. Lossing's, in 1851, that he possessed a drawing of 
 Col. Harcourt, and of the horse that he rode on the oc- 
 casion of Lee's capture. 
 
 George III. was faithful to his promise of taking care 
 of the future fortune of Col. Harcourt, who, on his re- 
 turn to England, was invested from time to time with 
 honours, was frequently at court, and lived on terms of 
 close intimacy with both the King and Queen. For the 
 capture of Lee, he received the thanks of Parliament, 
 which document is still in the possession of the present 
 head of the family of Harcourt. In 1783 he was raised 
 to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and in the following 
 year had the command of part of the British forces in 
 Holland. In 1809 he succeeded to his title on the death 
 of his elder brother, and shortly after the coronation of 
 George IV. was created a Field-Marshal. 
 
 Col. Harcourt fully merited all the rewards he received 
 from his sovereign ; for " he was a brave soldier, and was 
 as staunch a supporter of government in the senate, as 
 he had been in the field." He married in 1778, but left 
 no issue, and the Harcourt property passed through a 
 female line to the present possessor, Col. Edward Wil- 
 
 pectations from an event in which fortune had so considerable a 
 share ; with respect to rank, having failed in my wishes of obtaining 
 it in the only manner that could have made it an object, I confess 
 I am much better pleased with remaining in my present situation 
 than if I had obtained a Brevet in a numerous promotion," and then 
 he asks his father about the propriety of obtaining leave to return 
 to England. His last letter to his father is dated 29th of November, 
 1777, from Philadelphia. He was present at the battle of German- 
 town, and engaged in the various operations around Philadelphia 
 and in New Jersey, before his return to England. 
 
1 1 2 Appendix. 
 
 liam Harcourt, M.P., of Nuneham Park, Abingdon, and 
 of Stanton Harcourt, Oxon. 
 
 At an early period of his military career. General Lee, 
 whilst stationed - at Schenectady, had much intercourse 
 with the Mohawk Indians, who surrounded that post, and 
 who became so fond of him, that they adopted him into 
 their tribe under the name of Ounewaterika, or Boiling- 
 water. This soubriquet was particularly appropriate to 
 Lee's character, for he was the very incarnation of feverish 
 and restless energy. He was once in the service of the 
 King of Portugal, and the following paragraph will shew 
 the estimate formed of his character : — 
 
 '"Tis said that the King of Portugal left legacies to 
 all the foreign officers as low as Colonels, who served with 
 him during the war, except Col. Lee, (now in custody 
 in New York) ; his restless and ambitious spirit was even 
 then taken notice of, and rendered him despised." 
 
 The foregoing account of General Lee's capture" has 
 been carefully compiled from the newspapers of that 
 period, which contain numerous letters from officers and 
 gentlemen at the seat of war and in New York, during 
 the years 1776-8. Other reliable sources of information 
 have also been drawn upon. 
 
 ° An engraving from a private plate representing General Lee 
 delivering up his sword to Col. William Harcourt, is at- Nuneham, 
 in the possession of Col. E. W. Harcourt. The engraver (Tomlinson) 
 has made a mistake in the inscription on the plate in saying that 
 Col. Harcourt had only fifteen men with him. He should have said 
 thirty, as he informed his father by letter that he took that number 
 with him on his expedition. He probably divided his force on his 
 return, and took Lee to head quarters with fifteen men. 
 
Appendix. 113 
 
 From " Memoirs, &c., of General James Wilkinson" 
 vol. i. pp. loi, 102. 
 
 Brigade-Major Wilkinson was dispatched on the morn- 
 ing of December 12, 1776, with a letter from General 
 Gates to General Washington. At midnight he entered 
 a wayside tavern, and roused up Col. George Gibson, and 
 Joseph Nourse, Esq. (the Registrar of the Treasury), who 
 directed him where to find General Lee, as they had 
 parted from him the evening before. About 4 A.M. he 
 reached Lee's quarters, at White's tavern, on Baskingridge. 
 
 " Wilkinson states that ' I was presented to the General 
 as he lay in bed, and delivered into his hands the letter 
 of General Gates. He examined the superscription, and 
 observed it was addressed to General Washington, and 
 declined opening it until I apprised him of the contents, 
 and the motives of my visit. He then broke the seal and 
 read it, after which he desired me to take repose. I lay 
 down on my blanket before a comfortable fire, amidst 
 the officers of his suite ; for we were not in those days 
 incumbered with beds or baggage. I arose at the dawn, 
 but could not see the General, with whom I had been 
 previously acquainted, before 8 o'clock. After some in- 
 quiries respecting the conduct of the campaign on the 
 northern frontier, he gave me a brief account of the oper- 
 ations of the grand army, which he condemned in strong 
 terms. He observed that our siege of Boston had led 
 us into great errors ; that the attempt to defend islands 
 against a superior land and naval force was madness ; 
 that Sir William Howe could have given us checkmate 
 at his discretion, and that we owed our salvation to his 
 indolence, or disinclination to terminate the war. " When 
 
114 Appendix. 
 
 I reached the army on York Island," said Lee, "all hands 
 were busily employed in collecting materials, and erecting 
 barracks ; and I found little Mifflin exulting in the pros- 
 pect of fine winter quarters at Kingsbridge. I replied to 
 him, " Winter quarters here. Sir, and the British army still 
 in the field ! Go set fire to those you have built, and get 
 away by the light, or Sir William Howe will find quarters 
 for you." ' 
 
 " General Lee wasted the morning in altercation with 
 certain militia corps who were of his command, particu- 
 larly the Connecticut Light Horse, several of whom ap- 
 peared in large full-bottomed perukes, and were treated 
 very irreverently. The call of the Adjutant- General for 
 orders also occupied some of his time, and we did not sit 
 down to breakfast before lo o'clock. General Lee was 
 engaged in answering General Gates' letter, and I had 
 arisen from the table, and was looking out of an end 
 window, down a lane about a hundred yards in length, 
 which led to the house from the main road, when I dis- 
 covered a party of British Dragoons turn a corner of the 
 avenue at a full charge. Startled at the unexpected 
 spectacle, I exclaimed, ' Here, Sir, are the British Cavalry.' 
 ' Where .' ' replied the General, who had signed his letter 
 on the instant. 'Around the house ;' for they had opened 
 files, and encompassed the building. General Lee ap- 
 peared alarmed, yet collected ; and his second observation 
 marked his self-possession. ' Where is the guard .>" (d — n) 
 the guard, why don't they fire .'' And after a momentary 
 pause, he turned to me and said, ' Sir, see what has be- 
 come of the guard.' The women of the house at this 
 moment entered the room, and proposed to him to con- 
 ceal himself in a bed, which he rejected with evident 
 disgust. I caught up my pistols which lay on the table, 
 
Appendix. i i 5 
 
 thrust the letter he had been writing into my pocket, and 
 passed into a room at the opposite end of the house, 
 where I had seen the guard in the morning. Here I dis- 
 covered their arms ; but the men were absent. I stepped 
 out of the door, and perceived the Dragoons chasing 
 them in different directions ; and receiving a very uncivil 
 Salutation, I returned into the house. 
 
 "Too inexperienced immediately to penetrate the mo- 
 tives of this enterprise, I considered the rencontre acci- 
 dental ; and from terrific tales spread over the country 
 of the violence and barbarity of the enemy, I believed 
 it to be a wanton murdering party, and determined not 
 to die without company. I accordingly sought a position 
 where I could not be approached by more than one person 
 at a time, and, with a pistol in each hand, I awaited the 
 expected search, resolved to shoot the first and the second 
 person who might appear, and then to appeal to my sword. 
 I did not remain long in this unpleasant situation, but was 
 apprised of the object of the incursion by the very audible 
 declaration, ' If the General does not surrender in five 
 minutes, I will set fire to the house,' which, after a short 
 pause, was repeated with a solemn oath ; and within two 
 minutes I heard it proclaimed, ' Here is the General ; he 
 has surrendered.' A general shout ensued, the trumpet 
 sounded the assembly, and the unfortunate Lee, mounted 
 on my horse, which stood ready at the door, was hurried 
 off in triumph, bare-headed, in his slippers and blanket- 
 coat, his collar open, and his shirt very much soiled from 
 several days' use. 
 
 "What a lesson of caution is to be derived from this 
 event, and how important the admonition furnished by 
 it ! What an evidence of the caprice of fortune, of the 
 fallibility of ambitious projects, and the inscrutable waya 
 
ii6 Appendix. 
 
 of Heaven ! The capture of General Lee was felt a:s 
 a public calamity ; it cast a gloom over the country, and 
 excited general sorrow. This sympathy was honourable 
 to the people, and due to the stranger who had embarked 
 his fortune with theirs, and determined to share their fate, 
 under circumstances of more than common peril. Al- 
 though this misfortune deprived the country of its most 
 experienced chief, I have ever considered the deprivation 
 a public blessing, ministered by the hand of Providence ; 
 for if General Lee had not abandoned caution for con- 
 venience, and taken quarters two miles from his army, on 
 his exposed flank, he would have been safe; if a domestic 
 traitor, who passed his quarters the same morning on 
 private business, had not casually fallen in with Colonel 
 Harcourt on a reconnoitring party, the General's quarters 
 would not have been discovered ; if my visit, and the 
 controversy with the Connecticut Light Horse, had not 
 spun out the morning unreasonably, the General would 
 have been at his camp ; if Colonel Harcourt had arrived 
 an hour sooner, he would have found the guard under 
 armsP, and would have been repulsed, or resisted until 
 succour could have arrived ; if he had arrived half-an-hour 
 later, the General would have been with his corps ; if the 
 guard had paid ordinary attention to their duty, and had 
 not abandoned their arms, the General's quarters would 
 have been defended ; or if he had obeyed the peremptory 
 and reiterated order of General Washington, he would 
 have been beyond the reach of the enemy. And shall we 
 impute to blind chance such a chain of rare incidents .'' 
 
 p The morning being cold, and the sun bright, they had left their 
 station, crossed the main-road, and were sunning themselves on the 
 south side of the house, about 200 yards from the tavern, which 
 enabled Harcourt to cut them off from their arms. 
 
Appendix. 117 
 
 I conscientiously reply in the negative, because the com- 
 bination was too intricate and perplexed for accidental 
 causes, or the agency of man ; it must have been de- 
 signed. 
 
 " General Lee merited severe punishment for his neglect 
 of duty and disobedience of orders, and he received it from 
 an unexpected hand. His offence was well understood 
 by the army, and his misfortune was unpitied by those 
 who reflected on the cause of it. It is a fact, he had very 
 strong reasons for his neglect of General Washington's 
 reiterated commands ; but although they were not such 
 as to justify the violation of a fundamental military prin- 
 ciple, yet I verily believe his motives were patriotic, 
 though intimately connected with a sinister ambition ; 
 for I am persuaded that, in the moment of his capture, 
 he meditated a stroke against the enemy 9, which in its 
 consequences would have depressed General Washington, 
 elevated himself, and iimnediately served the cause of the 
 United States. This opinion is supported by the follow- 
 ing Letter to General Gates :— 
 
 " 'JSaskingridge, Dec. i^i^h, 1776. 
 
 " ' My Dear Gates, — The ingenious manoeuvre of Fort 
 Washington has unhinged the goodly fabric we had been 
 building. There never was so damned a stroke. Entre 
 nous a certain great man is most damnably deficient. He 
 has thrown me into a situation, where I have my choice 
 of difficulties : if I stay in this province, I risk myself and. 
 army ; and if I do not stay, the province is lost for ever. 
 I have neither guides, cavalry, medicines, money, shoes, 
 or stockings. I must act with the greatest circumspection. 
 
 ' See Appendix, p. 105. 
 
ii8 Appendix. 
 
 Tories are in my front, rear, and on my flanks ; the mass 
 of the people is strongly contaminated; in short, unless 
 something, which I do not expect, turns up, we are lost ; 
 our counsels have been weak to the last degree. As to 
 what relates to yourself; if you think you can be in time 
 to aid the General, I would have you by all means go ; 
 you will, at least, save your army. It is said that the 
 Whigs are determined to set fire to Philadelphia ; if they 
 strike this decisive stroke, the day will be our own ; but 
 unless it is done, all chance of liberty in any part of the 
 globe is for ever vanished. Adieu, my dear friend ! God 
 bless you ! 
 
 "'Charles Lee.' 
 
 " So soon as Lieut.-Col. Harcourt retreated with his prize, 
 I repaired to the stable, mounted the first horse I could 
 find, and rode full speed to General Sullivan, whom I 
 found under march towards Pluckamin. I had not ex- 
 amined General Lee's letter ; but believing a knowledge 
 of the contents might be useful to General Sullivan, who 
 succeeded him in command, I handed it to him ; who 
 after the perusal returned it, with his thanks, and advised 
 me to rejoin General Gates without delay, which I did the 
 next morning, at Sussex Court-house, whither he had led 
 the troops from Van Kempt's. 
 
 " Lee's misfortune afflicted Gates profoundly ; they had 
 been long acquainted, had served together in the British 
 army, and were personally attached ; their politics and 
 political connexions were in unison, and their sympathies 
 and antipathies ran in the same current : yet long after, 
 and in misfortune, they became estranged." 
 
Appendix. 119 
 
 Edward Thoroton Gould ■■ was the son of Edward 
 Gould, Esq., of Mansfield Woodhouse, in the county of 
 Nottinghamshire, by Mary his wife, daughter of Robert 
 Thoroton, of Screveton Hall, (who was descended from 
 a younger brother of the Nottinghamshire historian of 
 that name). 
 
 He was commissioned to the 4th Foot as ensign, on the 
 20th of February, 1767; promoted to be lieutenant on 
 the 14th of November, 1771 ; sold out on the 26th of 
 January, 1776. He was wounded and taken prisoner 
 at Concord, and was afterwards exchanged, and returned 
 to England. Just six days after his capture, he made an 
 affidavit (herewith appended) at Medford, Massachusetts 
 (in relation to the skirmish at Concord), which document 
 was duly attested before three justices of the peace. This 
 affidavit he was, no doubt, persuaded to draw up and 
 sign, and send to Mr. Woodfall, the editor of the famous 
 paper called "The Public Advertiser," the same journal 
 in which originally appeared the "Letters of Junius." 
 Lieut. Gould was also subpoenaed to appear as a witness 
 at the trial of the Rev. John Home, where he gave a viva 
 voce account of the battles of Lexington and Concord, 
 and adhered to all the statements in his affidavit, much 
 to the annoyance of George HI. and his Ministers. 
 
 In 178 1 he was appointed Lieut.-Col. of the old 42nd 
 (or Nottinghamshire) regiment of militia, and became 
 Colonel of that regiment in 1791, upon the resignation of 
 the Hon. Henry Willoughby (afterwards Lord Middleton). 
 He served with this regiment for some years, volunteering 
 for service in Spain in 1 808 ; he left the service in 
 1 8 19. He was for many years a justice of the peace 
 for Nottinghamshire, and served as High Sheriff in 1792 ; 
 
 ^ "Poor Little Gould," p. 55. 
 
I20 Appendix. 
 
 which latter fact is a little remarkable, as he was exempt 
 from this office as a military officer. He married, first, 
 the Lady Barbara Yelverton, only daughter and heiress 
 of Henry, third Earl of Sussex, fourth Viscount Langue- 
 ville, and eighteenth Baron Grey de Ruthyn ; by this lady 
 (with whom he eloped) he had one son and two daughters. 
 His second wife (to whom he was married in 179 1) was 
 the Hon. Anne Dormer, eldest daughter of Charles, eighth 
 Lord Dormer. After he left the service, he resided 
 abroad, and died in Paris at the Hotel Breteuil, on the 
 15th of February, 1830, and was buried in P^re la Chaise. 
 His son, Henry, succeeded to the Barony of Grey de 
 Ruthyn, upon the death of his grandfather in I799, and 
 assumed the name and arms of Yelverton. He was 
 (like his father) a wild and dissipated man ; and having 
 run away with a Warwickshire farmer's daughter named 
 Kelham, he was pursued by her brother, and compelled 
 to marry her, and by her he was the father of the late 
 Lady Grey de Ruthyn. 
 
 In a letter from the Hon. Mrs. Boscawen to Mrs. Delany, 
 dated Nov. i, 177S, she writes :—" Have you not pitied 
 poor Lady Sussex, my dear Madam .' She has been often 
 at this village (Colney Hatch), with her sister (Mrs. Durell), 
 of whom I have enquired after her health, and have had 
 a very bad account, her agonies having been very great. 
 My lord has made a will, which cuts off this ungrateful 
 child with a shilling, but it is to be hoped he will live 
 to cancel it and forgive her ; but it must be a very bad 
 child, I should fear, that can plant a dagger in her parents' 
 breasts, in return for all their care and tenderness : such 
 a child too! The boldness amazes me. She was sixteen 
 last June. Lieut. Gould, her husband, is the same young 
 man who was wounded and taken prisoner in y<= first 
 action with the Americans ; he came over after y^ 2nd 
 
Appendi}^. 12 r 
 
 (being exchanged), and came to me at my son's desire, 
 to bring his letters and assure me of his safety, he and 
 my boy being in the same regiment. Gould is not a sol- 
 dier of fortune, but has a small estate in Nottinghamshire 
 in possession, his father being lately dead. One of his 
 sisters is marryd to Lady Sussex's brother, from whence 
 I suppose this unhappy connection arose." — From Life 
 mid Letters of Mary Granville {Mrs.Delany), vol. ii. 
 
 ''The Public Advertiser" May 31^-/, 1775. 
 
 " For the ' Public Advertiser,' Authentic Copy, Lexington, 
 25 April, 1775. 
 
 "T, Edward Thoroton Gould, of his Majesty's Own 
 Regiment of Foot, being of lawful age, do testify and 
 declare, that on the evening of the i8th inst, under the 
 orders of General Gage, I embarked with the Light 
 Infantry and Grenadiers of the line, commanded by Col. 
 Smith, and landed on the marshes of Cambridge, from 
 whence we proceeded to Lexington. 
 
 " On our arrival at that place we saw a body of Pro- 
 vincial troops armed, to the number of about 60 or 70 
 men. On our approach they dispersed, and soon after 
 firing began ; but which party fired first I cannot exactly 
 say, as our troops rushed on shouting and huzzaing pre- 
 vious to the firing, which was continued by our troops 
 so long as any of the Provincials were to be seen. From 
 thence we marched to Concord. On a hill near the 
 entrance of the town we saw another body of Provincials 
 assembled. The Light Infantry companies were ordered 
 up the hill to disperse them. On our approach they 
 
122 Appendix 
 
 retreated towards Concord. The Grenadiers continued 
 the road under the hill towards the town. Six companies 
 of the Light Infantry were ordered down to take posses- 
 sion of the bridge which the Provincials retreated over ; 
 the company I commanded was one. Three companies 
 of the above detachment went forwards about two miles. 
 In the meantime the Provincial troops returned, to the 
 number of about three or four hundred. We drew up on 
 the Concord side of the bridge. The Provincials came 
 down upon us, upon which we engaged, and gave the 
 first fire. This was the first engagement after the one 
 at Lexington ; a continued firing from both parties lasted 
 through the whole day. I myself was wounded at the 
 attack of the bridge, and am now treated with the greatest 
 humanity, and taken all possible care of, by the Provin- 
 cials at Medford. 
 
 "Edw. Thoroton Gould, 
 "Lieutenant of the King's Own Regiment. 
 "Medford, April 2'-^, 1775. 
 
 "Province of the Massachusetts Bay, Middlesex County, 
 "April 2$, 1775. 
 
 "Lieutenant Edward Thoroton Gould, above 
 named, personally made oath to the truth of the fore- 
 going Declaration by him subscribed, and wrote with 
 his own hands. 
 
 " Before us, 
 
 "Thad. Mason, 
 "JosiAH Johnson, 
 "Simon Tufts, 
 " Justices of the Peace for the County 
 aforesaid. Quorum unis." 
 
Appendix. 123 
 
 From '■^Public Advertiser" Dec. 13, 1776. 
 
 "Yesterday morning, precisely at 9 o'clock, came on in 
 Guildhall, before Lord Mansfield and a special jury, the 
 trial of the printers of the London ' Evening Post,' on an 
 information filed against them by the Attorney-General, 
 for printing and p'ublishing, so far back as 1775, the fol- 
 lowing advertisement : — 
 
 " 'King's Arms Tavern, Cornhill, 
 "'June 7, 1775. 
 
 " ' At a special meeting this day, several members of the 
 Constitutional Society, during an adjournment, 
 
 "'A gentleman proposed that a subscription should 
 be immediately entered into (by such of the Members 
 present who might approve the purpose) for raising the 
 sum of ^100, "to be applied to the relief of the widows, 
 orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American sub- 
 jects, who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, prefer- 
 ring death to slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly 
 murdered by the King's troops, at or near Lexington and 
 Concord, in the province of Massachusetts, on the 19th 
 of April last." 
 
 " ' Which sum being immediately collected, it was there- 
 fore resolved, 
 
 "'That Mr. Home do pay to-morrow into the hands 
 of Messrs. Brownes and Collinson, on the account of 
 Dr. Franklin, the said sum of .^'loo, and that Dr. Franklin 
 be requested to apply the same to the above-mentioned 
 
 purpose. 
 
 "'John Horne.'" 
 
124 Appendix. 
 
 Mr. Home afterwards assumed the name of Tooke, 
 to inherit some ^8,000 of a gentleman of that name, 
 of Purley, in Surrey, and wrote the work called "Diver- 
 sions of Purley." 
 
 The printers were found guilty in five minutes after 
 the jury withdrew. Mr. Home's trial came on July 4, 
 1777, before Lord Mansfield, Mr. John Wilkes, Edmund 
 Burke, and Lord Percy sitting on the bench as spectators. 
 Home desired the crier to summon Lord George Ger- 
 maine and General Gage as witnesses, but they did not 
 appear. 
 
 " Lieut. Edward Thoroton Gould was examined respect- 
 ing an affidavit made by him about the affair at Lexing- 
 ton, and published in one of the ' Public Advertisers,' 
 produced by the defendant. He acknowledged it to be 
 his affidavit, and swore to the contents, giving at the same 
 time a viva voce account of the action ; whereby it clearly 
 appears that the rebels were armed, ready to receive the 
 King's troops, and that the latter heard the alarm-guns 
 firing whilst they were on the march." 
 
 Mr. Home was found guilty Sept., 1777, and received 
 his sentence Nov. 23, 1777. He was sentenced to pay 
 a fine of ;^200, and to be imprisoned for twelve months ; 
 and afterwards to find surety for himself in £\oo, and two 
 sureties of ;^200 each, for good behaviour for two years. 
 
 Another of his productions was called " Glencoe," in 
 which he insinuated that the battle of Lexington was 
 another "Massacre of Glencoe." During the trial he 
 pleaded his own cause with the greatest ability, tact, and 
 legal knowledge. In 1771 he had a literary duel with 
 the celebrated "Junius," and the general opinion at the 
 time was, that he was victor in the contest. 
 
ApPENDUt. 125 
 
 After" the trial, it was stated "that Mr. Home's exam- 
 ining of Mr. Gould was very injudicious, for by his evidence 
 it appeared that, as soon as the troops began to march, 
 alarm-guns were fired by the rebels, who thereupon assem- 
 bled and formed, and soon began to fire random shots 
 upon our men. Before Mr. Gould gave his testimony, 
 many present believed that our troops had murdered the 
 natives sleeping in their houses, and that it would be 
 proved by Mr. Gould's evidence." 
 
 From '^London Chronicle" May 30, to June i, 1775. 
 
 The following affidavits and other particulars, relative 
 to the late skirmish between His Majesty's troops and 
 the Provincials in Massachusetts bay, were received on 
 Monday last : — 
 
 "April 23, 177s, Lincoln. — I, John Bateman, belonging 
 to the 52nd Regiment, commanded by Col. Jones, on Wed- 
 nesday morning, on the 19th of April instant, was in the 
 party marching for Concord, being at Lexington, in the 
 county of Middlesex ; being nigh the meeting-house in said 
 Lexington, there was a small party of men gathered to- 
 gether in that place, when our said troops marched by, 
 and I testify and declare that I heard the word of com- 
 mand given to the troops to fire, and some of the said 
 troops did fire ; and I saw one of the said small party 
 lie dead on the ground, nigh the said meeting-house; 
 and I testify, that I never heard any of the inhabitants 
 so much as fire one gun on the said troops." 
 
 "Sworn before John Cuming and Duncan Ingraham, 
 Justices of the Peace." 
 
126 Appendix. 
 
 "Concord, April 23, 1776. — I, James Marr, of lawful 
 age, testify and say that, in the evening of the i8th instant, 
 I received orders from George Hutchinson, Adjutant of 
 the 4th Regiment of regular troops stationed at Boston, 
 to prepare and march ; to which orders I attended, and 
 marched to Concord, where I was ordered by an officer, 
 with about one hundred men, to guard a certain bridge 
 there ; while attending that service, a number of people 
 came along, in order, as. I suppose, to cross the said^ 
 bridge, at which time a number of the regular troops 
 first fired upon them." 
 
 " Sworn before Duncan Ingraham, and Jonas Dix, Jus- 
 tices of the Peace." 
 
 Hugh, Earl Percys born Aug. 14, 1742, returned to 
 England after the war, and became second Duke of North- 
 umberland on the death of his father in 1786. He died 
 loth of July, 1817. He was at the battle of Lexington, 
 where he brought off the exhausted troops, who had been 
 defeated through the mismanagement of the officer (Smith) 
 in command. He was grand - uncle to the present dis- 
 tinguished Lord Privy Seal, Algernon George, sixth Duke 
 of Northumberland. Earl Percy was an excellent officer, 
 and was possessed of a generous, humane and benevolent 
 nature. The various letter-writers from the seat of war 
 testify to his ability in the field, and his great popularity 
 in the service, and are lavish of their praises of him for 
 his many acts of humanity and generosity. Here is one 
 example from the "London Chronicle" for Sept. 7 — 10, 
 1776: — "A soldier lately returned from America, having 
 seen in the paper an account of the respect shewn by 
 
 = " Lord Percy," p. 44. 
 
Earl Percy. 1775. 
 
AtpendiI. 12^ 
 
 the magis'trates of Westminster to their excellent repre- 
 sentative, Lord Percy, desires us to communicate a few 
 out of the many instances of his humanity and generosity. 
 "After the fatal attack at Bunker's Hill, his lordship 
 gave to the widow of every soldier of his regiment, who 
 fell in that action, an immediate benefaction of seven 
 dollars ; he paid their passage home, and ordered five 
 guineas to be distributed to each of them on their landing 
 in Britain. His humanity to the sick and wounded (send- 
 ing them wine, fresh provisions, &c.), and his generosity 
 to their families during their long stay at Boston, have 
 been mentioned. Perhaps the following particulars deserve 
 notice. He had a large tent provided for every company 
 at his own expense to accommodate their women, and he 
 makes it a rule to receive no other servants into his 
 family but soldiers or their wives. Though his regiment 
 is distinguished for its admirable discipline, he never will 
 suffer the private men to be struck, or used in a manner 
 unbecoming Englishmen and soldiers ; but endeavours to 
 win them to their duty by generous treatment, by re- 
 wards, and his own excellent example, so that he is per- 
 fectly adored among them : tequiring no service from the 
 meanest sentinel, which he is not ready to share with 
 them, whether as to hardship, fatigue or danger. He is 
 equally beloved and respected by his officers, among whom 
 he lives with all the equality of a brother, yet always ex- 
 erting a manly firmness in whatever relates to command 
 or duty. His fortune he considers only as a bank to 
 assist merit, that is unprotected and unfriended. And 
 notwithstanding the delicate and concealed manner in 
 which this young nobleman dispenses his favours, this 
 informant has known no fewer than seven instances 
 ia. which his lordship has .. purchased commissions for 
 
128 APPENDI5t. 
 
 excellent men and good officers, wlio must have seen 
 their juniors rise over their heads, while they had lan- 
 guished in neglect and obscurity. One of these com- 
 missions is well known to have cost him more than nine 
 hundred pounds." 
 
 " ' London Chronicle,' June lo — 13, 1775 : — We hear that 
 all the letters from Boston mention that Lord Percy has 
 acquired great honour by his spirit and conduct, that he 
 was in every place of danger, cool and deliberate, and 
 wise in all his orders ; and though continually in a shower 
 of bullets, and an object that was aimed at, as he was 
 on horseback, yet that he happily came off unhurt." Yet 
 he seems to have had several narrow escapes, as the fol- 
 lowing will shew : — " We are assured that Lord Percy, in 
 the late skirmish (Lexington) with the Americans, had 
 a narrow escape for his life ; a musket-ball, which it is 
 supposed came transversely, having struck one of the 
 middle buttons of his waistcoat, and from thence passed 
 off slanting, so as to leave only a mark behind." "A letter 
 from a gentleman in the army at N. Y., to his father in Aln- 
 wick, confirms the accounts of Lord Percy's horse having 
 been shot under him at the siege of Fort Washington." 
 
 "May 3, 1777, London. — A ship is arrived at Liverpool 
 which sailed from New York the 23rd of March. Nothing 
 material had then happened between the armies, but it 
 is whispered that Earl Percy has desired leave to come 
 home, and that Sir William Howe has also desired that 
 his Lordship should be recalled. The occasion of the 
 misunderstanding between them is said to proceed from 
 a disobedience of orders. When the winter quarters of 
 Lord Cornwallis were beat up, and the Hessians surprised 
 at Trenton, General Howe ordered Earl Percy to send 
 back 2,000 men (another account says 1,500) of the 
 
Appendix. 129 
 
 froops in Rhode Island. His lordship thought' that it 
 would weaken his garrison too much, therefore he only 
 sent 1,000 men. This has occasioned altercation and 
 mutual complaints, and made it impossible for the gene- 
 rals to serve together." 
 
 A strenuous denial of the truth of the above statement 
 Appeared in the London Journals, instigated, no doubt, 
 by the Government. Yet the frequency with which this 
 want of unity between the two officers is alluded to by 
 succeeding letter-writers, would warrant a belief that there 
 was much truth in the common report. Another writer 
 states that "Lord Percy placed the matter in the hands 
 of his father, who repaired to George the Third, and asked 
 leave for the recall of his son. The king was much em- 
 barrassed at this proposal, yet granted his request." 
 
 "New York, March 14, 1777. — On General Clinton's 
 return to take the command of the troops at Rhode Island, 
 it is understood that Lord Percy will desire leave to 
 return home. Should that take place, his absence will 
 be sincerely regretted by every person now serving under 
 his lordship, from the second in command to the private 
 sentinel." 
 
 "May 20, 1777. — Letters received from America speak 
 in very strong terms of the disagreeable situation which 
 Lord Percy has been in at Rhode Island. It is well 
 known his lordship was to have been sent thither on a 
 separate command with eight or te;i thousand men ; but 
 when this plan was carried into execution, they fell con- 
 siderably short of those numbers, and they have been so 
 much lessened since by draughts made from thence, in 
 6rder to repair the losses occasioned by the late mis- 
 conduct in the Jerseys, that Lord Percy, instead of having 
 it in his power to display his courage and military skill 
 
 s 
 
I30 Appendix. 
 
 by attacks on the enemy, has scarce had sufficient force 
 remaining to protect himself from insult." 
 
 "'Public Advertiser,' June 7, 1777.— On Monday last 
 arrived at Falmouth, in the 'Mercury' packet, after a 
 passage of twenty-eight days, the Right Hon. Earl Percy, 
 Lieutenant-General in America, where his lordship has 
 been employed in the service of his country from the 
 very beginning of the American war, and by his distin- 
 guished spirit and military skill, as well as by his gene- 
 rosity and humanity to the soldiers, has gained universal 
 esteem and admiration. His absence, it is to be feared, 
 will be felt and lamented by the whole army, and it will 
 be much to be regretted if any event has happened that 
 should have forced him to withdraw from a service which 
 he had pursued with so much ardour and success ; but 
 history affords too many instances how much exalted 
 merit is exposed to jealousy and envy." 
 
 Before leaving Newport on May 3, i777, a- long address 
 was presented to Lord Percy by the loyal inhabitants 
 of the town, on his return to England. Under date of 
 Dec. 3, 1776, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the army placed 
 the following postscript to a letter : — " P.S. Little Percy 
 has behaved like an angel ; he remains with us, notwith- 
 standing he had the King's leave to return to Europe five 
 months ago." 
 
 "June io-i2th, 1777: London. — When Lord Percy 
 quitted Rhode Island, there was a general lamentation 
 among the people. This may be relied on. Nor was it 
 ever distinguishable whether his Lordship's zeal for his 
 country, or his feelings for the distressed, had the greater 
 influence on his mind, except when an object actually 
 presented itself, and then all the tenderness of a Christian 
 prevailed over every sentiment; though the esteem and 
 
Appendix; 131 
 
 duty of a soldier were still unshaken and inviolate in his 
 generous breast." 
 
 Extract from a letter from Portsmouth, (June 6th) : — 
 " The Earl Percy, upon his arrival in London, waited upon 
 Lord George Germaine, who immediately ordered his 
 postchaise, and took him to Kew, where he was most 
 graciously received, and had an audience with his Majesty 
 near two hours." " The arrival of Earl Percy from America 
 has much embarrassed the Administration, who are fully 
 convinced that the loss of such an able and enterprizing 
 officer, at this crisis, may prove very fatal to their mea- 
 sures." 
 
 June 10-12, 1777: — "It is said that Earl Percy will 
 return to America with a commission of importance, and 
 will embark for that purpose on board a frigate, which 
 is to sail for New York the middle of next month." 
 
 June 24, 1777 : — " We are assured that though it has 
 been suggested to the Lord Percy, by desire of a great 
 personage, that after so much fatiguing service as he has 
 gone through his further services would be readily dis- 
 pensed with, yet that gallant young nobleman is so 
 wedded to the business, that he is determined not to 
 return till it is completed." 
 
 The Hon. Mrs. Boscawen '. 
 
 From Boswell's " Life of Johnson," p. 608 :— " On Wed- 
 nesday, April 29, (1778), I dined with him (Johnson) at 
 Mr. Allen Ramsey's, where were Lord Binning, Dr. Robert- 
 
 ' Page 83. 
 
132 Appendix. 
 
 son the historian, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the Hon. 
 Mrs. Boscawen, widow of the Admiral, and mother of the 
 present Viscount Falmouth, of whom, if it be not pre- 
 sumptuous in me to praise her, I would say that her 
 manners are the most agreeable, and her conversation 
 the best, of any lady with whom I ever had the happiness 
 to be acquainted." 
 
 On p. 646 will be found a letter from Bennett Langton 
 to Boswell, in which he writes, that one evening he was 
 at Mr. Vesey's, where the company consisted chiefly of 
 ladies, among whom "the Duchess of Beaufort must, 
 I suppose, from her rank be named before her mother, 
 Mrs. Boscawen, and her elder sister, Mrs. Lewson, who 
 was likewise there." Croker, the editor of Johnson's life, 
 adds in a note, that " Mrs. Boscawen and her daughters, 
 Mrs.Leveson (pronounced Lewson) Gower and the Dutchess 
 of Beaufort, are celebrated in Miss Hannah More's Poem, 
 entitled 'Sensibility:' — 
 
 'All Leveson's sweetness and all Beaufort's grace.'" 
 
 On Friday, April 20, (1781,) Boswell says, — "I spent 
 with him (Johnson) one of the happiest days that I re- 
 member to have enjoyed in the whole course of my life," 
 at Mrs. Garrick's, in London, at her house in the Adelphi. 
 " The company was Miss Hannah More, who lived with 
 her, and whom she called her chaplain, Mrs. Boscawen, 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Burney, 
 Dr. Johnson, and myself. We were all in fine spirits, 
 and I whispered to Mrs. Boscawen, ' I believe this is as 
 much as can be made of life.' " To which remark Croker 
 appends a note that " Boswell was right ; four other such 
 women or such men it would have been difficult to collect. 
 Mrs. Boscawen shone with her usual mild lustre." During 
 
Appendix. 135 
 
 the evening Dr. Johnson said, " I love ' Blair's Sermons. 
 Though the dog is a Scotchman and a presbyterian, and 
 everything he should not be, I was the first to praise 
 them. Such was my candour (smiling)." Mrs. Boscawen. — 
 " Such his great merit, to get the better of all your pre- 
 judices." Johnson. — " Why, Madam, let us compound the 
 matter ; let us ascribe it to my candour and his merit.'' 
 At one time, Mrs. Boscawen owned and lived in the villa 
 once occupied by the poet Thompson at Kew-lane, Rich- 
 mond, and which was called by her "Rosedale." She 
 greatly extended the pleasure-grounds, which were in the 
 poet's time narrow in extent. She religiously preserved 
 the reliques of an alcove which formed the summer study 
 of the poet. She died in South Audley Street, London, 
 March 2.6, 1805, aged 86 years. 
 
 List of Officers serving in /^th Foot in 1774. 
 
 Colonel. Lt.-General Studholme Hodgson. 
 Lt.-Col. George Maddison. Present. 
 Majors. James Boorder. Retired 2^. 4. ij'/^ 
 
 James Ogilvie. Present. 
 Captains. John Webster. Present. 
 
 Nisbitt Balfour. Present, 
 
 Thomas Thomlinson. Present. 
 
 John West. Present. 
 
 William Holmes. 
 
 W. Glanville Evelyn. Present. Killed 1775, 
 (jzV) 1. 
 
 Charles Cochrane. Present. 
 Capt.-Lieut. John Farrier. Present. 
 
 " Capt. W. G. Evelyn was wounded Oct. i8, 1776; and died in 
 New York, Nov. 6, 1776. 
 
134 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Lieutenants. 
 
 Joseph Knight. 
 
 John Crammond. 
 
 George Hutchinson, (Adjt.). Present 
 
 Harry Rooke. 
 
 Edward Barron. Present. 
 
 Leonard Browne. Present. 
 
 Benjamin Fish. Present. 
 
 Peregrine Fra. Thorne. Present. 
 
 Edward Gould. 
 
 John Barker. Present. 
 
 David Hamilton. Present. 
 
 Ensigns. 
 
 Henry Hyatt. 
 
 James Goddard Butler. Presents 
 
 Thomas Russell. Present. 
 
 Christopher Breary. Present. 
 
 John Hay. Present. 
 
 John Thomas Maddison. Present. 
 
 Forbes Champagne. Present. 
 
 David Campbell. 
 
 James Burch. Present. 
 
 George Hutchinson. Present. 
 Quartermaster. Harry Rooke. 
 Surgeon. Richard Knowles. Present. 
 
 Chaplain. 
 Adjutant, 
 
 The 4th Foot embarked for North America on April 17, 
 1774. The officers shewn as present in the above list 
 are those so reported in the Muster Rolls of the Regiment, 
 at the time of embarkation. 
 
 It will be observed that the name of Ensign George 
 Evelyn Boscawen is missing; as he sailed later, in the ship- 
 of-war commanded by his brother-in-law, Admiral John 
 Leveson Gower, who promised, in one of his letters to Mrs. 
 Boscawen, " to look after him as if he was his own sonj' 
 
Table of Descent to Illustrate Captain 
 Evelyn's Letters. 
 
 George Evelyn, of Nutfield, Surrey, 
 M.P. for Bletchingley, died 1699; 
 great grandson of George Evelyn, 
 Esq., of Wotton, vi^ho died in 1603. 
 He married 
 
 : For his third wife, Frances, daugh- 
 ter of Andrew Bromhall, Esq., of 
 Stoke Newington, co. Middlesex. 
 Was descended from an ancient 
 Bedfordshire family. 
 
 Richard Evelyn, = Jane Meade, sis- Wm. Evelyn Glan- = Frances, dau. 
 
 born 1685, died 
 at Dublin in 
 1751- 
 
 ter to Alderman 
 Thomas Meade, 
 Lord Mayor of 
 Dublin,.. 1758. 
 
 ville, changed his 
 name to Glanville 
 on his marriage. 
 
 and heiress 
 of William 
 Glanville, 
 Esquire. 
 
 "William Evelyn, : 
 Rector of Trim, 
 and afterwards 
 Dean of Emley, 
 in Ireland, died 
 at Dublin, 
 March 28, 1777: 
 born in 1 7 18. 
 
 Margaret, daughter of 
 Christopher Cham- 
 berlain, Esquire, of 
 Chamberlainstown, 
 CO. Meath, Ireland, 
 died at Dublin in 
 1789. 
 
 Frances = The Hon. Edward 
 
 Evelyn, 
 
 only 
 
 child, 
 
 married 
 
 in 1742 
 
 to 
 
 Wm. Glanville 
 Evelyn, eldest 
 son ; born at 
 Arklow, CO. 
 Wicklow, Ire- 
 land, in 1 742 ; 
 died at New 
 York, U. S., 
 JNov. 6, 1776. 
 
 George Evelyn, 
 youngest son ; 
 buried at Port- 
 glinone, Ire- 
 land, in 1756. 
 
 John Evelyn, second son, 
 heir to his brother Wil- 
 liam ; born at Arklow, 
 CO. Wicklow, Ireland, 
 June I, 1743 ; died at 
 Wotton, Surrey, Nov. 
 27, 1827. He was the 
 grandfather of the pre- 
 sent (1879) head of the 
 Evelyn family, W. J. 
 Evelyn, Esq., of Wot- 
 ton House, Surrey. 
 
 Boscawen, Ad- 
 miral of the Blue, 
 R.N., died Jan. 10, 
 1761 : born in 
 1711. 
 
 Edward Hugh, 
 eldest son ; 
 born Sept. 13, 
 1744; died at 
 "Spa," Ger- 
 many, July 17, 
 1774; M.P. 
 for Truro ; 
 buried at St. 
 Michael's, 
 Penkivel, 
 Cornwall. 
 
 1 
 George Evelyn Boscawen, 
 third son, became third 
 Lord Falmouth ; bom 
 May 6, 1758; died Feb. 
 1808 ; buried at St. Mi- 
 chael's, Penkivel, Corn-_ 
 wall. 
 
 Wm. Glan- 
 ville Bos- 
 cawen, se- 
 cond son, 
 died in the 
 Island of 
 Jamaica, 
 April 21, 
 1769, a 
 lieutenant 
 in the Bri- 
 tish Navy. 
 
 Frances, married 
 Admiral the 
 Hon. John Le- 
 veson-Gower, 
 brother to first 
 Marquis of Staf- 
 ford. 
 
 Elizabeth Boscawen, married Henry, 
 fifth Duke of Beaufort. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adams, Jolm, his autobiography of 
 Samuel Adams quoted, 47 ; as- 
 sumed the name of Novanglus, 49. 
 
 Samuel, father of the Governor, 
 
 47- 
 
 Samuel, ordered to be seized, 
 
 8 ; testimony of his abilities, 46 ; 
 genealogical note, 47. 
 
 Allen, Col. Ethan, inhuman treat- 
 ment of, loi, 102. 
 
 -Amherst, Gen. Jelfery, declines the 
 command in America, 80. 
 
 Arklow, Ireland, 6. 
 
 Auchmuty, Miss, 35. 
 
 Badminton, Gloucestershire, 88. 
 Balfour, Nisbitt, Capt. 4th Foot, 70, 
 
 133 ; biographical note, S3. 
 Barker, John, Lieut. 4th Foot, 134. 
 Barron, Edward, Lieut. 4th Foot, 
 
 134- 
 
 Baskenridge, — ., accused of having 
 betrayed General Lee, 103. 
 
 Bateman, John, his affidavit concern- 
 ing the Battles of Lexington and 
 Concord, 125. 
 
 Beaufort, Henry, fifth Duke of, 135. 
 
 Belvedere, America, 18. 
 
 Binning, Lord, 131. 
 
 -Bishop, Major, returns to England, 
 
 . 65. 
 
 Blair's Sermons, praised by Johnson, 
 
 133- 
 
 Bland, Humphrey, author of "Mili- 
 tary Discipline," 31. 
 
 Bletchingley, Surrey, 3, 5, 135. 
 
 Boorder,James, Major, 4th Regiment, 
 133- 
 
 Boscawen, Edward, Admiral of the 
 blue, 30, 135 ; biographical note, 
 87. 
 
 Elizabeth, wife of Henry, fifth 
 
 Duke of Beaufort, 132, 135. 
 
 ' Frances, letter to her, 83 ; letter 
 
 from her (extract), 120 ; notes con- 
 cerning her, from Boswell's "Life 
 of Johnson," 131 — 133. 
 
 Boscawen, George Evelyn, 8, 134; ge- 
 nealogical notes, 29 — 31 ; created 
 Viscount Falmouth, 30 ; his exem- 
 plary conduct, 32, 33 ; appointed 
 Lieut. 63rd Foot, 73. 
 
 Hugh, note of his death, 31. 
 
 Boston, America, 8, 9, 51, 113. 
 
 Boswell, James, extracts from his 
 "Life of Johnson," 131 — 133. 
 
 Breary, Christopher, Ensign, 4th Foot, 
 
 134- 
 
 Brown, Sir Richard, I. 
 
 Browne, Leonard, Lieut. 4th Foot, 1 34. 
 
 Bruce, Edward le, 6. 
 
 Bunker's Hill, battle of, 9, 61, 62. 
 
 Burch, James, Chaplain 4th Foot, 
 134- 
 
 Burgoyne, General, 66 ; his charac- 
 ter, 74 ; author of the farce, ' ' Block- 
 ade of Boston," 80. 
 
 Burke, Edmund, present at Home 
 Tooke's trial, 124. 
 
 Burney, Dr., 132. 
 
 Bushers, Mr., in Bedford-street, 43. 
 
 Butler, James Goddard, Ensign, 4th 
 Foot, 134. 
 
 Cadwallader, Dr., to report concern- 
 ing the health of Gen. Prescott, 
 loi, 102. 
 
 Calvert, Leonard, 24. 
 
 Campbell, David, Ensign, 4th Foot, 
 
 134. 
 Canada, 34. 
 Carolina, America, 81. 
 Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, I32. 
 Chadets, Capt., 30. 
 Chamberlain, Christopher, 6. 
 
 Tankerville, 6. 
 
 Champagne, Forbes, Ensign, 4th 
 
 Foot, 41, 134. 
 Charlestown, America, 71. 
 Chatham, Lord, opinion of Admiral 
 
 Boscawen, 87. 
 Cleaveland, Col., 35 ; commands the 
 
 Royal Artillery, 98 j distinguishes 
 
 himself, 99. 
 
Index. 
 
 137 
 
 ■ Frederick, Bart., 12. 
 
 ■ George, died 1603, i, 135. 
 Capt. , appointed command- 
 
 er of the Isle of Kent, Maryland, 
 ^'^' ■ of Nutfield, mention of him 
 
 in Evelyn's Diary, 4. 5. 135- 
 _____ M P for Bletchmgley, 5 ; 
 
 dies suddenly, 5 5 PO"'^^'' °^ ^^"^ 
 at Wotton, 6. 
 
 Clinch, James, parish clerk of Trine, 
 109. °' 
 
 Cochrane, Charles, Capt. 4th Foot, 
 133. 
 
 Colthurst, Lieut., killed, 63. 
 
 Comber, William, 22. 
 
 Concord, America, 8; battle there, 
 54—57. "9- 
 
 Crammond, John, Lieut.4thFoot, 134. 
 
 Crane, Jane, wife of George Evelyn, 
 25. 
 
 • Richard, 25. 
 
 Cuming, John, 125. 
 
 Dana, Elizabeth EUery, journal pos- 
 sessed by hit quoted, 59. 
 
 Deverson, Capt., 43. 
 
 Disraeli, Benjamin, quotation from 
 "Lothair" concerning John Eve- 
 lyn, 2. 
 
 DIx, Jonas, 126. 
 
 Dormer, — ., wife of Edward T. Gould, 
 120. 
 
 Dowdall, Wat., 67. 
 
 Dromore, 58. 
 
 Dunmore, Lord, 81. 
 
 Dymoke, Mr., 44. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, grants a patent to 
 
 John and Robert Evelyn, 20. 
 Emley, Ireland, I. 
 Evelyn, family of, settled at Long 
 
 Ditton, Godstone, and Wotton, i ; 
 
 family of, at Nutfield, pedigree, 
 
 135 ; family portraits at Wotton, 6. 
 Anna, wife of Henry Haines, 
 
 25. 
 ■ Catharine, wife of Thomas 
 
 Stoughton, 22. 
 
 Charles, 25. 
 
 Elizabeth, wife of Anthony Ga- 
 
 mage, 25. 
 Frances, wife of Edward Bos- 
 
 cawen, I35- 
 
 . wife of Harry Kelsey, 25, 
 
 Evelyn, George, of Wotton, ' monu- 
 ment, 20. 
 
 James, 12, 25. 
 
 Jane, wife of — . Freemarts, 
 
 Joan, letter to her, 23, 24. 
 
 John, author of " Sylva," bio- 
 graphical note, I, 2 ; quotations 
 from his Diary, 2 — 6 ; manuscript 
 of his Diary now preserved at 
 Wotton, 2 ; buried at Wotton, 2. 
 
 Sir John, of Godstone, men- 
 tioned in Evelyn's Diary, 2 — 4 ; 
 M. P. for Bletchingley, 3 ; portrait 
 at Wotton, 6. 
 
 John, son of John, of Say's 
 
 Court, note of his birth and chris- 
 tening, 3, 4. 
 
 Sir John, of Wilts, M.P. for 
 
 Ludgershall, 3 ; declared a trai- 
 tor, id, 
 
 Margaret, mother of W. G. E., 
 
 135 ; letter to her, 88. 
 
 wife of John Knatchbull, 
 
 25- 
 
 ■ Mary, 25. 
 
 ■ Mountjoy, 25, 
 • Rebecca, 25. 
 
 ■ Richard, of Wotton, I, 20. 
 • grandfather of W. G. E., 5. 
 
 Robert, Memoir, 15 — 24; emi- 
 grates to Virginia, 15; his descrip- 
 tion of the province of New Albion, 
 19 ; fragment of a letter to his 
 step-mother, 23, 24 ; descent from 
 him, 25. 
 
 Rose, 25. 
 
 Thomas, 20. 
 
 William, Dean of Emley, and 
 
 Vicar of Trim, i, 103 ; letters to, 
 26, 3S. 45. 53. 66, 68, 71, 81, 95. 
 
 William Glanville, 133, 13S ; 
 
 memoir, i — 14; obtains an en- 
 signcy, 6 ; embarks for Boston, 
 8 ; mentioned in Gen. Howe's de- 
 spatch, 10 ; dies from his wounds, 
 1 1 ; his character, il>. ; description 
 of his voyage and arrival at Boston, 
 27 ; his opinion of the Americans, 
 28, 51 ; eulogizes the exemplary 
 conduct of his friend. Ensign Bos- 
 cawen, 32, 33 ; describes the pro- 
 gress of the rebellion in America, 
 34—36, 38—40. 48, 49 ; his opi- 
 nion of Col. Prescott, 42 ; note of 
 
138 
 
 Index. 
 
 the influence of Samuel Adams, 
 46 ; describes tlie battle of Con- 
 cord, 53 — 55 ; his remarks upon 
 his father's preferment, 58 ; anx- 
 iety on account of Ensign Bos- 
 cawen, 59, 60; recounts the suc- 
 cesses of the rebels, 63, 64 ; and 
 the difficulties and impediments in 
 subduing them, 64, 65 ; advises 
 extermination, 65 ; account of a 
 surprise and failure of the Fleet, 
 68 ; suggests means to his father 
 by which he may gain advance- 
 ment, 69, 70 ; scarcity and price 
 of fresh provisions, 72 ; English 
 flag daily insulted by cruisers, 72 ; 
 capture of an English brig, 72, 73 ; 
 noticed by his General, and em- 
 ployed in reconnoitring, 74, 78 ; is 
 thanked for his services, 75 ; ac- 
 companies Gen. Clinton on an ex- 
 pedition, 78 ; describes an alarm 
 during a performance at the thea- 
 tre, 79 ; details of the gaining of 
 New York, 83 — 85, 89 ; captures 
 five American officers, 89 ; copy of 
 his will, 90 ; statement of his ef- 
 fects, 92 ; sends particulars of a 
 victory over the French in the 
 Seven Years' War, 96. 
 Evelyn, William Glanville, Letters 
 to his father, 26, 38, 45, 53, 66, 68, 
 71, 8r, 95 ; to his mother, 88; to 
 Mrs. Leveson Gower, 29, 31, 41, 
 58, 63, 76; to Mrs. Boscawen, 83. 
 
 Farrier, John, Capt. -Lieut. 4th Reg- 
 iment, 133. 
 Felbridge, Surrey, 12. 
 Fish, Benjamin, Lieut. 4th Foot, 134. 
 Fontainebleau, treaty of, 7. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 123. 
 
 Gage, Gen, , lands at Boston, 8 ; his 
 
 action in dissolving the Boston 
 
 Council, 28. 
 Galloway, Joseph, 94. 
 Gamage, Anthony, 25. 
 Garrick, Mrs., 133. 
 Gates, Gen., 113; letter from Gen. 
 
 Lee, 117. 
 Gayault, Monsieur, taken prisoner, 
 
 106. 
 George III., King, rewards Col. Har- 
 
 court, III. 
 
 Germaine, Lord George, 9, 124, 
 Germantown, Battle of, 41. 
 Gerrard, Lady, 4. 
 Gibson, Col. George, 113. 
 Glanville, Frances Evelyn, wife of 
 Edward Boscawen, 87. 
 
 wife of William Eve- 
 
 lyn, 135- 
 
 Glover, Col., 11. 
 
 Godstone, Surrey, I, 4. 
 
 Gordon, Capt. , allowed to visit Gen. 
 Prescott, loi. 
 
 Gould, Edward, of Mansfield Wood- 
 house, 119. 
 
 Thoroton, Lieut. 4th Foot, 
 
 134 ; wounded, 55 ; biographical 
 account, 119 — 121 ; his declara- 
 tion concerning the battles of Lex- 
 ington and Concord, 121, 122 ; ex- 
 amined on the trial of Home Tooke, 
 124, 125. 
 
 ■ Henry, succeeds to the Barony 
 
 of Grey de Ruthyn, 120. 
 
 Gower, Mrs. Leveson, letters to her, 
 29, 31, 41, 63, 76; celebrated in 
 Hannah More's poem, 132. 
 
 ■ John Leveson, Admiral, 30, 
 
 134- 
 
 Granville, Bernard, letter to, 32. 
 
 Mary, (Mrs. Delany), letters to 
 
 her, 33, 121. 
 
 Graves, Admiral, 77. 
 
 Grim, David, his record of the de- 
 struction of New York, 85. 
 
 Haines, Henry, 25. 
 
 Ilaldimand, Gen., 34. 
 
 Hamilton, David, Lieut. 4th Foot, 
 
 134- 
 Hancock, Col., his seat attacked, 47. 
 Harcourt, E. W. Vernon, of Nune- 
 
 ham, 30, 112. 
 Simon, Earl, 58, 103 ; account 
 
 of his accident in Nuneham park, 
 
 no. 
 William, Lieut. -Col., captures 
 
 General Lee, 103, 104 ; returns to 
 
 England, 109 ; praised by King 
 
 George III., 109 ; received the 
 
 thanks of Parliament, iii. 
 Hay, John, Ensign, 4th Foot, 1 34. 
 Hildeburn, Charles R, , owner of In- 
 
 man's Journal, 14. 
 Hodgson, Studholme, Col. 4th Foot, 
 
 133- 
 
Index. 
 
 139 
 
 Holmes, William, Capt. 4th Foot, 
 
 133- 
 
 Home, John : see Tooke, Home. 
 
 Howe, Sir William, 35, 113, 128; 
 despatches, 9, 12; appointed com- 
 mander of the English forces, 80. 
 
 Hunter, Martin, General, extract from 
 his Journal, 62. 
 
 Hutchinson, George, Lieut, and Ad- 
 jutant, 4th Foot, 126, 134. 
 
 Hyatt, Hgnry, Ensign, 4th Foot, 134. 
 
 IngersoU, Jared, 36. 
 Ingraham, Duncan, 125, 126. 
 Inman, George, his MS. Journal 
 quoted, 14. 
 
 James, G. P. R., III. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 41. 
 
 Johnson, Samuel, extracts from Bos- 
 well's Life of, 131 — 133; opinion 
 of Blair's Sermons, 133. 
 
 Johnston, Henry P. , extract from his 
 account of the campaign around 
 New York, 89. 
 
 Kelsey, Henry, 25. 
 
 King's Own Regiment, 4th Foot so 
 
 called, 7 ; extract from its records, 
 
 13 ; muster-roll, 1774, 133, 134. 
 Knatchbull, John, 25. 
 Knight, Joseph, Lieut. 4th Foot, 91, 
 
 134; killed in action, 55, 59. 
 Knowles, Richard, Surgeon, 4th 
 
 Foot, 134. 
 
 Langton, Bennett, extract from a let- 
 ter to Boswell, 132. 
 
 Lee, Charles, General, 86 ; account 
 of his capture by Col. Harcourt, 
 103 — 105, 114 — 117; his release 
 demanded by Washington, 108 ; 
 exchanged for General Prescott, 
 109 ; letter to General Gates, 117, 
 1 18. 
 
 Leonard, Daniel, author of " Massa- 
 chusettensis, " 49. 
 
 Leveson, John, 44. 
 
 Lexington, America, 8 ; battle of, 56, 
 119. 
 
 Livingstone, Col. Robert, a prisoner, 
 107. 
 
 Long Ditton, Surrey, I, 20. 
 
 Lorimer, Hugh, 75- 
 
 James, 75- 
 
 Lossing, B. J., m. 
 
 Ludgershall, Bucks, 3. 
 
 Lutterell, Henry, picture of the Eve- 
 
 ^ lyn family painted by him, 5. 
 Lyons, Capt., 75. 
 
 Maddison, George, Lieut.-Col., 133. 
 
 John Thomas, Ensign, 4th Foot, 
 
 134- 
 
 Marr, James, his affidavit, 126. 
 
 Massachusettensis : see Leonard, 
 Daniel. 
 
 Matthews, General, 107. 
 
 Meade, Jane, wife of Richard Evelyn, 
 135- 
 
 Mickle, Isaac, author of "Reminis- 
 cences of Old Gloucester," 15. 
 
 Montague, Admiral George, note, 26. 
 
 Montresor, John, biographical note, 
 35- 
 
 More, Hannah, quotation from, 132. 
 
 Musgrave, Lieut.-Col., wounded, 10. 
 
 Myers, T. Baily, of New York, 95. 
 
 Napier, William, 6i. 
 
 New York, 11, S3; one third de- 
 stroyed by fire, 85, 86. 
 
 Nourse, Joseph, registrar of the Trea- 
 sury, 113. 
 
 Novanglus, pseudonym of John 
 Adams, 49. 
 
 Nuneham, Oxon, 103, no. 
 
 Lord, letter to, 105. 
 
 Ogilvie, James, Major, 4th Foot, 
 
 .133- 
 
 Oliphant, Mr., 43. 
 
 Oughton, Sir Adolphus, 43. 
 
 Owen, Dr., 4. 
 
 Oxfordshire Light Infantry, or S2nd 
 Regiment, distinguished itself at 
 the battle of Bunker's Hill, 61, 62. 
 
 Pattison, Col., supersedes Col. Cleave- 
 land, 99, 100. 
 
 Percy, Hugh Earl, 57 ; biographical 
 notes, 126 — 131. 
 
 Peter the Great occupies Say's Court, 
 I. 
 
 Pitcairn, John, Major, 52. 
 
 Plantagenet, Beauchamp, engaged by 
 Sir Edmund Ployden to colonise 
 his New Albion, 16, 17; prints 
 a description of the colony, 1 7 j 
 arms, and grant of Belvedere, 18. 
 
 Ployden, Barbara, created Baroness 
 of Richneck,-i8. 
 
I40 
 
 Index. 
 
 Ployden, Sir Edmund, obtains a grant 
 of territory in the United States, 
 IS ; assumes the title of Earl Pala- 
 tine, 1 6. 
 
 Potts, John, 94. 
 
 Preble, Jedidiah, his diary quoted, 
 57- 
 
 Prescott, Richard, Gen. , 34, 42, 86 ; 
 commands at Newport, 100 ; taken 
 prisoner, ib. ; account of the se- 
 verity of his imprisonment, loi, 
 102 ; exchanged for Gen. Lee, 
 102. 
 
 Quebec, siege of, 102. 
 
 Ramsey, Allen, 131. 
 
 Rawdon, Lord, 78, 82. 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 132. 
 
 Richards, Capt. , 107. 
 
 Robertson, Dr., 131. 
 
 Rooke, Harry, Lieut, and Quarter- 
 master, 4th Foot, 134. 
 
 Rupert, Prince, 2. 
 
 Russell, Thomas, Ensign, 4th Foot, 
 134- 
 
 Say's Court, Kent, residence of John 
 Evelyn, i. 
 
 Sewell, Jonathan, 49. 
 
 Shepherd, Col., 11. 
 
 Shuldham, Molyneux, Baron Shuld- 
 ham, 77. 
 
 Smith, Francis, Lieut. -Col., 56. 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, quoted, 6. 
 
 St. Helen's, Isle of Wight, described, 
 27. 
 
 Staten Island, 9. 
 
 Steer, Mr., 43. 
 
 Stiles, Ezra, D.D. , President of Yale 
 College, his diary quoted, 10 ; bio- 
 graphical note, i/>. 
 
 Stoughton, Thomas, marries Cathe- 
 rine Evelyn, 22. 
 
 Tangier Regiment, 4th Regiment, or 
 King's Own, 7. 
 
 Thomlinson, Thomas, Capt. 4th Foot, 
 
 133- 
 Thorne, Peregrine Fra., Lieut. 4th 
 
 Foot, 134. 
 Thoroton, Mary, wife of Edward 
 
 Gould, 119. 
 Robert, of Screveton Hall, 
 
 119. 
 Ticonderoga, 72. 
 Tooke, Home, notes of his trial and 
 
 conviction, 119, 123, 124.. 
 Trim, Ireland, i, 135. 
 Tring, Hertfordshire, 109. 
 Truro, 87. 
 
 Vesey, Mr., 132. 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 87. 
 
 Walter, Sir William, obtains the 
 Godstone estate, 21. 
 
 Warren, Joseph, 8. 
 
 Washington, George, 9; demands the 
 release of Gen. Lee, 108. 
 
 Webster, John, Capt. 4th_Foot, 133. 
 
 West, John, Capt. 4th Foot, 133. 
 
 Wilkes, John, 124. 
 
 Wilkinson, James, Gen., his account 
 of the capture of Gen. Lee, 104, 
 114, US; extract from his me- 
 moirs, 113. 
 
 Williams, Rose, marries George Eve- 
 lyn, 20. 
 
 Thomas, 20. 
 
 Willoughby, Henry, Lord Middle- 
 ton, 119. 
 
 Windsor, Berks, 7. 
 
 Wotton, Surrey, i, 5, 20. 
 
 Wright, Peggie, 90. 
 
 Yale College, America, 10. 
 Yelverton, Barbara, wife of E. T. 
 
 Gould, 120. 
 Young, Capt., 17. 
 Yung, Gregory, of Yorkshire, 21. 
 Susanna, wife of Robert Evelyn, 
 
 21. 
 
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