That "Hussar" is Back -- John St Clair
We run into a letter from that "Hussar," John St Clair. He writes from Philly on 13 April 1758 to Lt Thomas Bullitt who was commanding the fort in Colonel George Washington's absence. John St Clair was not yet informed that Colonel George Washington has recovered from his Dysentery which started in August 1757 but got so bad GW left Fort Loudoun in Nov 1757 and only just arrived back in Fort Loudoun 2 April 1758.
The Cherokee are still here at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA.
Other Cherokee have already gone out on raids in Mid March of 1758. And more Cherokee are coming up north to Fort Loudoun.
John St Clair will be in York PA 7 May 1756 and then comes to Fort Loudoun Winchester VA 11 May 1756.
But more on John St Clair in a bit.
At the end of March 1758 a plea from Pennsylvania Governor to the commanding officer of Fort Loudoun in Winchester VA urged the Cherokee there at the fort stand down. The Governor of PA thought peace with the French allied Indians could be reached. He thought this because Teedyscung thought it possible the Indians allied to the French might separate from the French and stand down . So, If the Cherokee attacked any of those Indians, this fragile possibility of peace will disappear.
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That request was considered.
And denied.
That story of that request of the Pennsylvania Governor being denied by as high up as President John Blair, acting governor of Virginia can be found here:
And even the total opposite is about to occur.
Supplies are coming to arm them even more for war,
12 April 1758, John St Clair, quartermaster for the new expedition, receives orders to purchase presents, supplies and weapons for the Cherokee. That is not what the Governor of Pennsylvania wanted. His request was denied completely by President John Blair, acting Governor of Virginia.
There will be no stand down.
There will be no telling the Cherokee that peace is being negotiated by Pennsylvania with their traditional Indian enemies, the Shawnee, the Delaware, the Miami, the Wyandot, and the rest of the Ohio and Great Lakes nations.
(Never mind their other traditional enemy, the Iroquois, but they are north of this theater of war. They're in New York mostly.)
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The Cherokee are already out on raids against the enemy. And more are coming to do the same thing. All are to be armed and supplied and presented with "Presents" to maintain their interest as our allies against the French and against the French allied Indians.
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And now that old Hussar is back in the picture.
John St Clair was known as the Hussar in 1755. But now it is 13 April 1758.
He is in Philly at this point buying Supplies and Presents for the Cherokee per General Forbes orders.
John St Clair refers to his "old Friend Charles Smith'" .
This is Lt Charles Smith, who learned how to build forts under Captain Waggener on the South Branch of the Potomac. Lt Charles Smith was an Ensign when he became Foreman of building Fort Loudoun since 14 Nov 1756. John St Clair is asking Lt Charles Smith to build a "Couple of large Flatts so that we will have nothing to do but Join them together and Caulk them; they are for Coxe’s on Pottomack."
That is Friend Cox place and it is here on the map. Touch or click on icon for more detail.
The War Machine is getting ready for another stab at the French Fort Duquesne.
In the previous
failed expedition
of Braddock of 1755,
John St Clair
was called a Hussar
by Ben Franklin.
Fifty year old
Ben Franklin did this
to scare the German farmers
into providing wagons
and horses and supplies
for the Braddock Expedition.
Those Germans remembered
the terror
of the Hussars
from their old homeland.
Ben Franklin's Advertisement:
"ADVERTISEMENT.
"LANCASTER, April 26, 1755."
Last paragraph of the ad:
"I have no particular interest in this affair, as, except the satisfaction of endeavoring to do good, I shall have only my labour for my pains. If this method of obtaining the waggons and horses is not likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word to the general in fourteen days; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the hussar, with a body of soldiers, will immediately enter the province for the purpose, which I shall be sorry to hear, because I am very sincerely and truly your friend and well-wisher, B. FRANKLIN."
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Source:
The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 Publication date 1906 by Bigelow, John, 1817-1911 Publisher Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin & co., page 148:
Source:
This shows Ben Franklin's handwriting. Page 178.
This impression went on for a long time.
And that wrong impression continues with Winthrop Sargent in 1855, one hundred years later.
Winthrop Sargent wrong on the "Hussar"
Winthrop Sargent, published in 1855 his research on the Braddock Expedition.
His work is full of detail, but unfortunately he let Ben Franklin fool him.
Winthrop Sargent continues the myth that John St Clair was a Hussar.
CHARLES R. HILDEBURN writes a preface in Volume 9 of The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, page 2:
Sargent says he [John St Clair]
had served in a Hussar regiment,
but this statement,
as well as the ridiculous one
that he usually wore a
Hussar uniform
while on service in America,
seems to rest on no other authority
than the allusion to him
in the last paragraph
of Franklin's advertisement for wagons.
The term of Hussar is of Hungarian origin, and was applied to the
Light Cavalry of continental armies, whose duties of collecting forage and making quick and destructive raids made it a synonyme of terror to the German peasant. Franklin selected the word for its probable effect upon the thousands of these people who had sought refuge in Pennsylvania. The York Hussars, raised in 1801, is the first Hussar regiment to be found in British Army Lists, nor is the word to be found in any English dictionary until the beginning of the present century. A Mr. Atkinson, in 1847, says, " Sir John Sinclair wore a Hussar's Cap" [Olden Time, II. 540] ; ten years later Mr. Sargent speaks of a complete uniform. The dress of a British officer was the subject of just as minute regulation in 1755 as it is to-day.
Source:
"Sir John St. Clair, Baronet, Quarter-Master General in America, 1755 to 1767" by St. Clair, John is an article from The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 9. Publication date 1885-04-01 Preface by CHARLES R. HILDEBURN, Page 2.
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This is the end of our lead story.
See the letter from John St Clair to Thomas Bullitt.
Also included below is
President John Blair's Decline of the Pennsylvania request
for the Cherokee to stand down.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 4/3/2022, update 4/4/2022, 5/5/2022
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John St. Clair
to Thomas Bullitt,
13 April 1758
John St. Clair to Thomas Bullitt Philadelphia April 13th 1758
Sir, Last night I received an Order from Brigadier Genl Forbes, to purchase some Match coats and all the light Arms I could get at this Place, to Equip the Indians that are at Winchester, which I shall send from hence to morrow⟨.⟩ I have sent Mr Gist £300 Virginia Currency to Supply them with any thing that he may find in Virginia—You may acquaint them that nothing in our power shall be wanting to Accommodate them.1
I am here still employed about Artillery and laying in Stores of all kinds, that we may take the field as soon as possible, so soon as I am able to finish it I shall be with You, of which you will please to Acquaint the Indians. take care to keep them in Spirits as much as you can, and give them all the Encouragement you can to go out on Scouting Partys, and if Possible to bring in one prisoner with each party. You will please to let me know the number of each Nation that is with You and what more are Expected. I hope you have received the Express I sent to you about a week ago; if he is fallen into the Enemys hands it will be a great loss to us.2
I must desire you will Speak to my old Friend Charles Smith to prepare for me at Winchester, Materials for building a Couple of large Flatts so that we will have nothing to do but Join them together and Caulk them; they are for Coxe’s on Pottomack.3 I shall be glad if You can get a few Barrels of tarr made near You. I beg my Express may not be detained.
I am Sir, Your most Obedt Hum. Servt John St clair
LS, DLC:GW.
Founders Online Footnotes:
This letter was directed to Thomas Bullitt as “Commanding Officer at Winchester” because St. Clair was not yet aware that GW had resumed active command at Fort Loudoun. GW answered St. Clair’s letter on 18 April and docketed it as one of his papers. For an explanation why Capt. Lt. Thomas Bullitt had been acting as commander at Fort Loudoun, see John Baylis to GW, 30 Jan. 1758, n.3.
1. St. Clair wrote Gen. John Forbes on this day, 13 April:[1758] “Yesterday’s post b rought me your letter of the 10th. In obedience to your orders I have sent to Winchester to Capt. Bullett acquainting him that I should send all the light fuzee’s I could collect and some Match coats. I shall be obliged to put all these things in Mr [Christopher] Gist’s possesn and shall send him by this Express £300 Virga Currency to pick up any things that may be wanting at Winchester untill I arrive at that place. I shall not say but some of this money may remain with Gist, but in the employmt, he is there’s no avoiding trusting him” (ViU: Forbes Papers).
2. St. Clair arrived in Philadelphia on 4 April. He sent an “express” to Pres. John Blair in Williamsburg on 8 April, and it may have been this courier to whom St. Clair referred. The courier arrived at Fort Loudoun on the evening of 12 April and left there for Williamsburg on 13 April. See GW to St. Clair, 18 April.
3. Friend Cox’s place was on the Potomac River near the mouth of the Little Cacapon River, at the point where the road from Winchester to Fort Cumberland crossed the river. Lt. Charles Smith of GW’s Virginia Regiment had been in charge of the construction of Fort Loudoun since November 1756, and GW made him commander of the fort when GW and William Byrd marched to Fort Cumberland in June 1758.
Source:
John Blair as president of the Virginia council wrote Gen. John Forbes on 9 April 1758:
“I have just advised with the Council on an Express from Winchester, with a Letter from Governor Denny, on a Proposal of Peace by some of the Western Chiefs, with a Council held at Winchester, it being Derected to the Chief Officer There, of which Council I inclose you a Copy with the Presidents Letter to Governor Denny in Answer thereto, which the Council here approve of, as thinking the offer from Such Traitorous People as they have been, not to be Listned to at this Time” (Scottish Record Office: Dalhousie Muniments).
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