A Regimental Affair

‘That is of the essence. In the middle of the last century we encouraged them to raid the French settlements, and they were a not insignificant factor in the final defeat of Montcalm. When it came to the revolution in America, however, the league split. The Oneida and part of the Tuscarora supported the colonists, the rest threw in with us. The Mohawks fought especially hard. When the war was finished, the loyal tribes were given land about these parts, chiefly on the Grand River, here at the junction of Upper and Lower Canada. The others were treated ill, duped by the Americans into selling their land, or given poorer country in exchange further west.’

‘And so in the late war, I presume our Indians remained loyal?’

‘Indeed. And not only in the sense of not taking up arms against us, but of actually fighting for us. The Americans had continued to deal so ill with their Indians that we had capital support from tribes within the republic, too. The so-called backwoodsmen there murdered a great number of the Shawanese tribe and stole their land. The Shawanese had a very fine leader — Tecumseh: you have heard of him, perhaps?’

Again, Hervey had not.

‘Oh, a great man — a very great man. I do not think I ever met his equal even in a red coat. He led the best light infantry you would ever see.’

‘Shall I meet him?’

Major Lawrence smiled. ‘He lacked Christian baptism, so it is unlikely.’

‘Ah. And was he killed in battle?’

The major sighed. ‘There’s the rub with the Indians, for Tecumseh was killed fighting when those in red coats alongside him had taken to their heels. The same happened here at York, and worse at Niagara.’

‘This is the affair you spoke of last night?’

‘Yes, and it exercises me a great deal at present, for the scalplock of the chief who was killed at Niagara — at least, the Indians believe it to be his — was made a spectacle of only lately at Buffalo.’

Hervey peered at the map.

‘Here, across the river on Lake Erie — in the United States, that is.’

‘How did it happen?’

‘Our general — Riall — had taken a force with several hundred Indians of the Mississauga tribe across the river and captured Fort Niagara, and he was making his way to Buffalo when the Americans counter-attacked strongly. For some reason he’d conceived a mistrust of his Indians — perhaps because earlier they’d received emissaries from the nations fighting with the Americans. And when they promised they would stand he wouldn’t believe them, and gave way, so that the weight of attack was unevenly borne by them.’

‘And this scalplock was taken by the American Indians?’

‘It were better that it had been so, but the Mississaugas believe that one of the Kentucky riflemen took it — with his teeth.’

Hervey looked startled.

Lawrence smiled. ‘The Indians are commonly referred to as savages. But to my knowledge, they would only ever use a knife.’

Hervey smiled with him. ‘That is indeed a comfort to know.’

‘Well then, enough of these parlour stories for the time being. I have to say, though, the Kentucky men had their reasons, for they’d suffered many an outrage at home, though whose score on that account was the greatest is open to question. But I will own that the affair of the scalplock at Niagara is exercising me. The Mississaugas are not of the old confederacy, but if they’re unhappy with us then they might infect the Six Nations with their discontent.’

Hervey made more notes.

Lawrence refilled both coffee cups, and took up his pointer again. ‘Let us leave Indian affairs for the time being. Let us return to geography — the Niagara River. It is important you know its features…’

CHAPTER NINETEEN. TIME SPENT IN RECONNAISSANCE

Fort York, a week later

Hervey found the first week of their garrison uncommonly hard. Though the barracks in Fort York were well- found — they had been rebuilt only four years earlier, having been twice burned — the cold outdoors went ill with both officers and dragoons, and parades were few. The horse lines were improvised but ample, with bracken for bedding and good hay in fair quantities, and troop horse and charger alike had coats as thick as Hervey could remember since Corunna. After a few days, voyageurs of the Hudson’s Bay Company arrived with the regiment’s winter clothing: infantry greatcoats of grey Kersey, and the beef boots and fur caps which had been authorized for dismounted dress instead of the cloaks, hussar boots and shakos which scarcely kept even an active man warm. A brisk trade was done in extra fur, too.

Henrietta had remained indoors for the most part. Lady Sarah Maitland had begged her to come and lodge at Government House, but she had steadfastly insisted on remaining with her husband in their cramped quarters in the fort, though after only a few days, through the generosity of the lieutenant-governor’s lady, they were furnished very comfortably; so comfortably, in fact, that with their travelling service she was able to give two small dinner parties, and to receive Sarah Maitland daily in the morning or afternoon appropriately, and sometimes both. Even Ruth, Henrietta’s lady’s maid, complained only once in that time — when Private Johnson had left unguarded a pan of linseed on the kitchen range, and it had boiled over and run down the side and onto a pair of her mistress’s shoes which stood there drying.

More than once Hervey had watched his wife as she read or wrote or busied herself with some little detail of their domestic arrangements, and marvelled at her choosing to forgo the comfort of Manvers Priory for this. Had she known how difficult it would be? Would she now change her mind if it were possible? Never had he seen her look more contented, though. It humbled him indeed. And he envied her the apparent contentment, for although he had accepted the inevitable cure of the lance in respect of Lord Towcester — to puncture the impostor, and express all the malice — he had reached no conclusions as to when or how. In truth, though his mind told him the lance was inevitable, his every instinct recoiled from it still.

A few days after the voyageurs had come, and with General Rolt still in Quebec, Sir Peregrine Maitland suggested to Lord Towcester that a reconnaissance along the Niagara frontier might be made to advantage. ‘For I think it would be no bad thing to trail your red cloaks along the border and give something for the Americans across the river to observe.’

Lord Towcester agreed at once. It was unlikely of itself to secure him the Bath ribbon, which every Waterloo colonel was wearing, but it must be a beginning. And with but a single road, and guides, there could hardly be much opportunity of becoming lost, which had always been his anxiety on taking to the field before. Nevertheless, it took three full days of preparation by the adjutant before he felt himself ready to take the lead of the Niagara patrol — furnished, though it was, entirely by Hervey’s troop.

The distance from York to Fort George, where the Niagara River entered Lake Ontario, was eighty-five miles. A little over half of it would be done by way of Dundas Street, the military road which ran from the St Lawrence River just above Montreal, through York and on to London on the Thames River not far short of the Michigan border. At Burlington Bay, the westernmost point of Lake Ontario, they would leave the road and take a slower one along the south-west shore of the lake, crossing many streams, to the fort. It was, under clement conditions, with an overnight rest at the marching camp at Burlington, a journey of but two days, with a further day, then, to show along the Niagara River frontier to Fort Erie. Retracing their steps, it would be the same again home. A seven-day patrol with a day’s lairage was nothing exceptional by Peninsular standards, but although no snow had fallen for a week, it was colder than when they had arrived. Hervey’s principal concern was forage, and then their own rations. He had seen how fast a troop horse finished its hard feed in conditions like this (not quite like this, for the Astorgias had not been as cold, though they had been wet), and how a dragoon emptied his mess tin of beef and dumplings in half the usual time. He therefore decided on one bathorse for every two troopers.