Volume II Part 24 (1/2)
The above summary statement, and the following certificates, were enclosed to the writer of this history several years since by a son of Captain Munroe, who held several situations in Upper Canada, such as judge, sheriff, etc.
_Brigadier-General Allen Maclean's Certificate._
”I do hereby certify that the bearer hereof, Captain Munroe, was the first man that joined me at New York, on the 3rd of June, 1775, to take up arms in defence of his King and country, and that he was of infinite service to me at that time. That during the time I was engaged at Boston he remained in and about New York, till my return, when he gave me every information in respect to the danger of my being taken prisoner; in consequence of which I divested myself of every military appearance, and secured my papers, etc., on board the _Asia_ man-of-war, and at the risk of his life he conducted me upwards of 200 miles through the province of New York to a gentleman's house near Schenectady, whose son conducted me up the Mohawk river, on my journey to Canada by way of Oswego, the communication on all other places being shut up. I do also certify that Captain Munroe did engage a great number of men to serve his Majesty against the rebels, and that an information was lodged against him on that account, and was taken up and tried; that though many of the men were never able to join the King's troops in Canada, yet numbers joined Sir John Johnston's regiment, and others joined the 84th, under my command; and that in defiance of all the hards.h.i.+ps, difficulties, and dangers he was exposed to, he has ever adhered to the same loyal principles, notwithstanding he was eighteen months a close prisoner, mostly in irons; that he made his escape from prison in Albany; was unfortunately retaken and confined at Esopsus, on the Hudson river, and would infallibly have been hanged (his sentence having been p.r.o.nounced) had he not made his escape; that I am acquainted with Mrs. Munroe and her family of eight children, which has. .h.i.therto been brought up in a genteel sphere of life; and that I always understood Captain Munroe to be a gentleman of considerable property in the province of New York, and as an officer always behaved with becoming spirit and resolution.
”ALLEN MACLEAN,
”Late Brigadier-General in Canada.”
_Captain Duncan Campbell's Certificate, Late of the 84th Regiment._
”I do hereby certify, that I have been well acquainted with Captain John Munroe, late of the King's Regiment, of New York, for many years, while he followed the mercantile way of business in America's last war, and ever since; that he always bore the character of an honest and respectable gentleman amongst his numerous acquaintances. I also knew him to be a zealous friend to the interest of his King and country, and that he and his family have suffered the greatest cruelties by the rebels, and the loss of all his property. I also know that he laid a permanent foundation for his family in the province of New York by his indefatigable industry; that I have been different times at his last place of abode, where I have seen most part of the improvements he had made, though at that time in a manner beginning, where he had an excellent dwelling-house, a saw and grist mills, with other improvements.
”That I know him to have a very large family, and a thriving and growing property in the county of Albany, and province of New York.
”DUNCAN CAMPBELL,
”Late Captain of the 84th Regiment.
”No. 8 Fley Market, St. James.”
_General Tryon's Certificate._
”I do certify that I know Captain Munroe, during the time that I was Governor of the Province of New York, to be an active magistrate; that in the year 1776, at the period I was on board the _d.u.c.h.ess of Gordon_, he came from his place of abode, two hundred miles through the rebel posts, on the Hudson river, and with difficulty got on board, when he informed me of several particulars relative to the situation of the rebel armies, and the preparations they were making for defence in the highlands.
”He also communicated to me his distress for want of money to pay the recruits he had engaged for General Maclean's regiment, on which I advanced him such a sum as he thought he could carry with safety. About that time a packet arrived from England, which brought dispatches for the Bishop of Quebec. These I requested he would take charge of, and forward them with diligence and secrecy. To facilitate this business, I offered him fifty pounds to defray the expense thereof. He took charge of the dispatches, which I heard were safely delivered, though he declined accepting the fifty pounds. Such conduct, and his indefatigable diligence to forward his Majesty's service, merits the attention of Government, particularly as he has lost his property and suffered imprisonment in the royal cause.
”WM. TRYON,
”Upper Grosvenor St., 14th February, 1785.”
SUFFERINGS OF THE U.E. LOYALISTS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR--VINDICATION OF THEIR CHARACTER--THEIR PRIVATIONS AND SETTLEMENT IN CANADA.
_A Letter from the late Mrs. Elizabeth Bowman Spohn, of Ancaster, County of Wentworth, dated July 3rd, 1861, together with an Introductory Letter by the Writer of this History, dated February 15, 1875._
”_To the Editor of the Christian Guardian._
”MY DEAR SIR,--
”At the request of the family, I have prepared, and I send you herewith, a brief obituary notice of Mrs. Elizabeth Bowman Spohn, only child of the honoured and widely-known late Peter and Elizabeth Bowman, near the village of Ancaster, in the county of Wentworth.
”I here subjoin for publication a remarkable letter which I received from Mrs. Spohn in 1861, in answer to a circular which I sent out to the United Empire Loyalists of Canada and their descendants, to procure information and testimonies from themselves as to their early history and settlement in this country.
”I had long been impressed with the injustice done to the character and acts of our Canadian forefathers by the partial and often unfounded statements of American historians and utter neglect of English historians. I had, in accordance with my own strong convictions and in compliance with many solicitations, determined to attempt an act of justice and grat.i.tude to that n.o.ble generation of men and women. I have been favoured with a large number of letters similar to that which follows, and which will form an interesting Appendix of information and testimony to any history which may be written of them. I have not been able to complete my task; but if my life and strength be spared, and if I can be released from official labours which weigh so heavily upon my time and strength, I shall be able to complete what I have undertaken and long prosecuted, namely, contribute something to settle many unsettled and disputed facts of American and Canadian history, and to do, at least, a modic.u.m of justice to a Canadian ancestry whose heroic deeds and unswerving Christian patriotism form a patent of n.o.bility more to be valued by their descendants than the coronets of many modern n.o.blemen.
”The following letter is founded on the testimony of those who were incapable of knowingly perverting the truth in any particular, and tends to prove and ill.u.s.trate, by its artless statements, the true disinterested loyalty and Christian patriotism of those who adhered to British connection in the American revolution; their cruel treatment from the professed friends of liberty; their privations, sufferings, courage, and industry in settling this country; or who, as it is beautifully expressed in the following letter, 'with their hoes planted the germ of its future greatness.'
”Yours very faithfully,
”E. RYERSON.
”Toronto, February 15, 1875.”