WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE
TO LONG POINT.
In addition to the
promise of the British Government to indemnify the Loyalists for their
losses, was the promise to send ships to carry them into Canada.
Consequently in the spring of 1783 crowds of the hapless exiles awaited
in the Atlantic seaports the British vessels.
They came at last, and
the first contingent of refugees arrived on the 18th of May, 1783, off
the mouth of the River St. John, and by the end of the year about 500
had been safely transported to the land, over which waved the “meteor
flag of England.”
But for those living
inland other means had to be provided, and they were asked to rendezvous
at different stations along the Canadian frontier, for example, Oswego,
Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Isle aux Noix on Lake Champlain. The distance
travelled by most of the Loyalists before reaching Lake Ontario was
about 500 miles. From New York to Albany, the Hudson is navigable about
175 miles. North of Albany, the river forks into two branches, the
western of which is the Mohawk. About the ancient Fort Stainwix (now
Rome) the Mohawk is joined by Wood Creek. This was followed up for some
miles, then a portage of ten miles was necessary to Lake Oneida, from
which Lake Ontario could be reached by the Oswego river. This was by far
the more generally followed, hence in our classification of routes it is
to be put first.
Second.—The eastern
branch of the Hudson was sometimes followed, the mountains crossed and
Sackett’s Harbor reached by the Black River, which empties into the lake
at that point. Occasionally the Oswegotchie was reached from the Hudson,
and followed to its mouth at the present town of Ogdensburg, then called
“La Presentation.” Third.—The old military road which ran along the west
shore of Lake Champlain, thence down the Richelieu River to the St.
Lawrence, or west to Cornwall.
Fourth.—Others again
travelled more directly westward from the rendezvous on Lake Champlain,
and striking Lake Ontario at its eastern extremity, proceeded westward
along the southern shore of the lake to the settlement on the River
Niagara.
But it must be
remembered that nearly all the Loyalists who came to the Long Point
country settled first in New Brunswick. This province became rapidly
overcrowded, and of necessity their thoughts were turned westward, and
most opportunely came the messages from Governor Simcoe and President
Peter Russell urging them to settle in Western Canada, and promising
liberal grants of land. Hence it was, that in the last decade of the
century, many availed themselves of their offers, and moved their
families up the St. Lawrence, and lakes Ontario and Erie, to the Long
Point country. This was therefore the common route of the Loyalists who
settled in Norfolk.
Still there were some
who came direct, via the Hudson and Black rivers to Sackett’s Harbor,
and thence by boat to Long Point. Others again came in a north-westerly
direction overland through Pennsylvania and New York, and crossed Lake
Erie in frail skiffs.
These were the routes
of the Loyalists. |