82 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



for promoting his scheme of organizing a corps of Rangers, and before 

 the middle of the month he was able to send the Governor General a 

 list of five captains, nine lieutenants, and 75 privates. Some of these 

 recruits had arrived at Niagara in small parties, and reported that 

 many other loyalists were ready to enlist on the first chance.^ 



As our interest is confined for the present to watching the gradual 

 assembling of those elements of society, which were later to constitute 

 the population of the Niagara Peninsula, and as Butler's corps was one 

 of the most conspicuous of these, we have first to trace the steps by 

 which its ranks were filled, besides gathering such information as is 

 available about the other Loyalists who came in, singly or in groups, 

 footsore and weary, from the long journey through the woods. ■ We 

 have also to note the further associations of the Six Nations with the 

 Niagara post until they were admitted to the reservation which was 

 given them on the Grand River. 



Before joining St. Léger at Oswego at the end of July, 

 Butler convened an Indian council there, wbich was attended by 800 

 or more braves, of whom Brant and about 400 were ready to take 

 the field. These warriors, therefore, formed part of the expedition, 

 along with Butler's men. The Loyalist contingent was further in- 

 creased by Sir John Johnson and 133 members of his corps, who came 

 from their headquarters at LaChine. As is well known, the attack 

 on Fort Stanwix, which occurred early in August, proved disastrous, 

 ending in the flight of the assailants. Two of Butler's captains. 

 Hare and Wilson, were killed in the battle of Oriskany, and after the 

 flight most of the Rangers were despatched to the Susquehanna to 

 capture cattle for the garrison at Niagara; but the party was sur- 

 prised. Captain Peter Tenbrook, Lieutenant Bowne and 20 privates 

 taken prisoner, and the others scattered. The following month 

 (September, 1777), found Butler in Quebec, whither he went to settle 

 his accounts. The bitter lesson of Fort Stanwix required no com- 

 mentary, and when Butler renewed in person his proposal to enlist a 

 regiment of Rangers to serve with the Indians, Carleton at once 

 consented to the embodiment of eight companies, each to consist 

 of a captain, a lieutenant, three sergeants, three corporals, and fifty 

 privates. The kind of service these troops were to perform is clearly 

 indicated in the requirements that six of the companies were "to be 

 composed of people well acquainted with the woods," while the other 

 two were to consist of persons "speaking the Indian language" and 



^Thwaites and Kellogg, Rev. on the Upper Ohio, 65, 68, 69, 245, 246; Proceedings 

 of the Wis. Hist. Soc, 1909, 132; Ohio Arch, and Hist. Quarterly, July 1907, 271; 

 Severance, Old Trails of the Niagara Frontier, 92, n. ; Cruikshank, Butler's 

 Rangers, 34-37. 



